


the great pining war of twenty thirty-nine, or how gavin and nines are sending their friends to early graves

by MissDinahDarling



Series: hashtag squad goals [5]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Drunkenness, Emotional Constipation, Enemies to Friends, Epic Bromance, F/F, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gavin Reed Redemption, Gay Disaster Gavin Reed, Good Parent Hank Anderson, Human Trafficking, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jealous Upgraded Connor | RK900, M/M, Machine Upgraded Connor | RK900, Mood Indicator Android LEDs (Detroit: Become Human), Multi, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Gavin Reed, Oblivious Upgraded Connor | RK900, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Pre-Relationship, Protective Gavin Reed, Protective Hank Anderson, Sassy Androids, Soft Gavin Reed, Soft Upgraded Connor | RK900, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2019-12-06 22:10:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 49,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18226058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissDinahDarling/pseuds/MissDinahDarling
Summary: It was during times like these where Connor wished he could find the factory reset button and switch his emotions off, because being a mindless machine had to be better than dealing with this bullshit.OR: Gavin and Nines finally realise that theylike, like each other... not that they're gonna do anything, 'cause wow, who talks about their feelings in this economy?!





	1. and so it begins

**THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**1.37PM**

“—and then he had the audacity to take the fucking credit for the arrest? Like, fuck off, _I’m_ the prick that stood in the goddamn rain for an hour waiting for the bastard to come running into the alleyway, but no-o, apparently that was just a ‘waste of time’, like excuse me you cold bastard, I was trying to get the jump on the fucker! That shitty-ass-FBI-motherfucking-robo-bitch just hid in his fucking car, judging me for freezing my ass off whilst mocking my goddamn plan! And if that wasn’t bad enough, the bitch of a perp ended up running away straight into Nines’ fucking car – the bastard fell into the ‘droid’s hands like a fucking gift! God! When I finally caught up, that smug asshole just looked at me with his blue-fucking-eyes and had the goddamn nerve to say: ‘I’m surprised you found this difficult’, like one sassy fucking android wasn’t bad enough. Jesus, it’s like an epidemic! Fuck, that bastard just stared at me with his chiselled goddamn cheekbones and his stupid fucking jawline and I just wanted to shoot him so goddamn bad. Fuck him! I cannot fucking believe I let him meet my goddamn cats, the fucker didn’t deserve the fucking privilege!”

Silence reigned in the bullpen as Gavin panted softly, his cheeks burning from exertion and anger.

“So,” Tina drawled, “you still don’t have a crush on him, huh?”

Gavin flushed.

“Wait,” Connor said, betrayal clear on his face, “RK900 has met your cats?”

Gavin flushed harder.

“It wasn’t intentional,” he explained, shrugging as he averted his gaze from the wounded android, “he was supposed to just give me a ride home, that’s all.”

“You let RK900 meet your cats?” Connor repeated, a deep crease between his brows.

“I didn’t want him to,” Gavin insisted, suddenly feeling like a husband trying to hide an affair from his wife, “it just happened.”

“Oh,” Connor said lightly, turning back to his computer, “I see.”

Tina snorted, biting her lip as she watched the android pointedly tap away at his keyboard. Gavin frowned, feeling a touch dismayed – he barely paid attention to that emotion, however, as it was swallowed up by the incredulity that he had allowed the android to guilt-trip him so badly.

“Connor,” he called out, folding his arms as he leaned against his desk.

The android ignored him.

“Connor,” he repeated, frustration leaking into his tone.

Tina giggled, the sound muffled as she pressed a hand over her mouth.

“Connor!” Gavin snapped, narrowing his eyes when the android barely blinked.

He sighed roughly, swiping at the scar on his nose with an irritated sniff. With a decisive nod to himself, Gavin pushed himself off his desk and marched over to Connor. The android didn’t acknowledge him – rather, he continued to tap away at his keyboard with a blank expression.

“Connor,” he said, hands on his hips as he gazed down at the miffed android.

Connor refused to look up at him – instead, he began typing harder, tapping his keys with unnecessary force. Gavin rolled his eyes and scowled.

“Aw shit,” Tina taunted softly, “Hank is gonna kill you.”

Gavin hissed at her, his grey eyes hardening as he glared down at Connor. The damn robot was so fucking irritating and Gavin didn’t understand why he let Connor get under his skin so easily – the bastard probably wasn’t even that bothered, as his LED still shone blue.

His hands clenched into tight fists against his hips and he growled darkly under his breath.

The android knew exactly what he was doing – it sucked, because he won every single fucking time.

“Fine,” he bit out, “you wanna meet my damn cats so bad… fucking fine then.”

Connor’s face transformed before Gavin’s eyes – with crinkled eyes and an impish smile, Connor gazed up at the detective and radiated self-satisfaction. Gavin felt a deep sense of foreboding and absently realised that he may have fallen for a trap.

“Thank you, Gavin, that’s all I wanted.” Connor interlocked his fingers and rested his chin on them. “Before you leave, however, could you assist me with something please? I’m having a little trouble with this file here,” he said, his grin sharp as he gestured to his screen.

Squinting at the android, Gavin leaned around the monitor and cursed when he read what Connor had been typing out.

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

_I GOT YOU_

“You little shit,” Gavin muttered, shaking his head as he glared at Connor.

“I’ll come around this Sunday, yes?” the android asked sweetly.

Gavin clucked his tongue. “You come any earlier than eleven and I’ll shove my gun up your ass,” he said, swiping at Connor’s head before he retreated to his desk, flipping Tina off on his way as she cackled at him.

“You’ve gotten incredibly easily to tease,” Connor commented, propping his head up with an arm as he gazed across the room with a lazy grin.

Gavin sighed as he threw himself into his chair. “Connor, you have such a punchable face,” he remarked airily, reclining in his seat as he regarded the android with a cold glare.

“I would not advise punching me,” Connor said, “I am still resistant to physical pain.”

Gavin hissed at him. “Say that to my fucking face _after_ you’ve met my cats,” he said, facing his monitor with a sour expression, “can’t believe you fucking tricked me – prick.”

“I love you too,” Connor replied impishly, enjoying how Gavin’s face reddened instantly.

“Fuck off,” Gavin muttered, his words muffled by Tina’s delighted laughter.

“Chris is gonna be so mad he missed this shit,” she chortled. Their friend had gone dumpster-diving for a case – if that wasn’t bad enough, he was stuck with Officer Person. Gavin winced at the thought of being stuck with her all day – Person’s idea of fun revolved around upcycling shitty furniture and then flogging it all online. The hobby itself wasn’t so bad, but it was the only thing the bitch ever talked about.

God, Gavin _hated_ working with Person, probably more so because she was so vocal about hating him too.

Still – that had to be better than getting dicked around here.

“I’m mad I didn’t miss this shit,” Gavin muttered darkly, logging onto his computer and loading up his files to update his investigation.

“Whatever, you mopey bitch,” Tina teased, her eyes sparkling with mirth, “finish your story – you caught the bastard, then what?”

“Oh yeah, we caught the asshole. Name’s Jordi fucking Peters – apparently, he ships the kids out in ‘bulk’, the sick bastard,” Gavin seethed, “he used to do it one-by-one, but then realised it would be more efficient to do it in ‘batches of three or five’. Fucking batches, he says. Nines ended up having to restrain me ‘cause I was this close,” he held up two fingers about an inch apart, “to knocking him the fuck out.”

“So macho, such masculine,” Tina commented lightly, neatly dodging the pen that Gavin flung at her, “sorry, sorry – please, do carry on. You’re such an aggressive storyteller, it’s quite magnetising.”

Connor chuckled quietly.

“Fuck off – we caught the fucker and confiscated his goddamn keys. We tracked down his truck and what do we fucking find? An android kid, shoved in the back and tied up like a goddamn present,” Gavin seethed, remembering how frightened the girl was – her LED had been a shocking red colour, glowing viciously in the dark of the van. She was dirty, dressed in a torn blue dress with no shoes; thick rope wound around her body to keep her tightly bound. She cowered away from his touch, shrieking beneath her gag when Gavin attempted to climb into the vehicle to reach her. Nausea had flooded his stomach, a sour taste pervading his mouth as he had taken in her fear. He had held up his hands and allowed Nines to take over – the android connected with her wirelessly, communicating that she was safe and that they were here to help.

“Is she okay?” Connor asked, his LED spinning yellow slowly.

“Yeah – ambulance came by pretty damn quick and took her off to the hospital. Doctors didn’t find anything serious physically, but she’s fucking traumatised to hell,” Gavin replied, a deep crease between his brows. “The poor kid’s the child pageant queen that the media went fucking nuts over, Aurelia Hampton – anyway, the moment she arrived at the hospital, someone from New Jericho came over. I’m guessing Nines contacted them? Anyway, they sent over some android who was training to be a therapist, name’s Ivrina. She helped out a bunch of ‘droids when the revolution went down and now, she’s like, the best in the business. She’s offered to help us out with any future kids we find, wavering her normal fees for the parents,” Gavin explained, tapping his pen on the desk as his eyes glazed over, “Aurelia was a damn mess. Granted, it’s a fucking given but fuck. She’s so damn traumatised, she can’t even… fucking… she can’t, like, summon her human skin? She’s just stuck as a robot – never wants to compete in pageants again ‘cause what if they find her and steal her again?”

Tina sighed sadly, her face creased with pain.

“Motherfuckers,” she hissed, shaking her head.

Gavin murmured his agreement and threw his pen across the desk.

“Shit,” he cursed, rubbing roughly at his temples, “Ivrina said we probably won’t get anything substantial from Aurelia for a few weeks, might even be months. Fucking Marco is out on bail – don’t fucking ask me how,” Gavin held up a hand to Tina’s furious expression, “he just is – Nines promised to keep an extra special eye on him though. The minute he makes the wrong move and says the wrong thing, fucking Terminator will be on his ass.”

“Shit – what does Fowler say?” Tina asked, pursing her lips thoughtfully.

“Fuck all,” Gavin muttered darkly, snatching up his file on Jordi, flipping it open and scowling at the man’s photo. With a cocky grin and round eyes, the man looked too young to be getting involved with a trafficking gang, “just that we gotta get Jordi to confess that he knows Marco.”

Which was easier said than done.

Nines had taken the lead in interrogating Jordi Peters – his method was abrupt, straight to the point and painfully blunt. His questioning technique clashed painfully with Jordi’s personality; the man didn’t take anything seriously, including Nines’ questions about Marco and his trafficking scheme. Jordi just laughed, made crude jokes and was persistent in asking about Nines’ genitals.

Gavin was ashamed to admit it, but he had briefly felt disappointed when Nines avoided that particular question altogether.

Regardless, interrogating Jordi had lasted three hours, and they barely managed to get him to admit to knowing that Aurelia was in his van – getting him to admit that he’s in cahoots with Marco wasn’t going to be fun.

As he updated Aurelia’s file, he felt his stomach clench painfully as his eyes drifted over the other six tabs.

Marina O’Shea

Deandra Kelly

Coby Collins

Clarissa Darwin

Robert Shaw

Tamron Kyle

Six children who were still missing – and they were relying on Jordi _fucking_ Peters to assist in finding them. Clenching his teeth, he began copying across the notes that Ivrina had sent to him – they detailed Aurelia’s current state of mind, as well as her behaviours. Gavin hoped that New Jericho knew what they were doing; regardless of her android status, Aurelia was still a fucking kid and required someone with an ounce of fucking tact.

After working with Connor _and_ Nines both, Gavin had found that androids weren’t built for fucking diplomacy.

Ivrina seemed pretty cool, though she was incredibly blunt in kicking Gavin and Nines out of the hospital. She had told them, in no uncertain terms, that they could not return until she was completely satisfied that Aurelia was stable and ready for their return. According to Nines, Ivrina was a WR400 unit, so it made sense that she was protective of androids who had been abused by humans. Apparently, WR400 models used to work in the now defunct Eden Clubs – Gavin knew not to bring that up to Ivrina, as Shannon had once explicitly told him that it was considered rude to ask androids about their past jobs.

Regardless, Gavin hoped he didn’t have to wait long before Aurelia was ready to be questioned.

The second the though flittered across his mind, Gavin cursed himself for being so goddamn selfish. God, he was clearly getting desperate if he was getting impatient with a traumatised kid. Jesus, with Fowler and Perkins on his ass, and Marco’s lawyers sending him threatening emails, Gavin’s patience was flying clean out of the window. He hissed under his breath and pushed his keyboard away from him, folding his arms onto the desk to bury his face in them.

He felt his leg jiggle as his mind instantly went to the worst-case scenario. He failed his investigation, six kids stayed missing, Aurelia was traumatised permanently, he would lose his fucking job… and then, to top it off, Marco’s lawyers would send some fucker around to unload a shit-tonne of lead into his brain.

Then his cats would be orphans, alone and lost without him. Jesus.

Gavin cursed loudly and began rhythmically pounding his head against his desk.

“Hey Gavin?” Tina called out softly.

“Fucking what?” he groaned in response, rubbing a hand across his nose.

“Wanna go donut dashing?” she asked, resting her head on her arm with an imploring gaze.

Gavin sighed, looking at her blankly before he turned to gaze at his building workload. He drummed his fingers once – he looked over to Tina and gave her a firm nod.

“Fuck it,” he said, standing up from his desk, “let’s go carb-loading.”

Connor frowned. “Those are not appropriate carbohydrates. Also, please do not overload yourselves with carbohydrates, you should be eating a well-balanced diet and— are you listening to me?”

Gavin flipped him off.

Tina merely grinned at him impishly.

Connor sighed – now he knew why Chris needed his help.

These two were _such_ a handful.

* * *

**THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**2.08PM**

Model Identification: RK900 #313 248 317 – 87

Status: 97% capacity

Running diagnostics…

Cache: Clear!

Cookies: Clear!

Running defragmentation…

Systems: Optimised!

Nines frowned at the words blaring brightly in his HUD.

His systems were at peak perfection and he was clear of any viruses, so he couldn’t understand why it was happening.

Accessing DETECTIVE REED folder…

576 items found!

Display items alphabetically?

Y/N

GAVIN REED ADOPTS CATS – delete?

Y/N

Cannot carry out action

Nines blinked the words away deliberately and scrolled down his list, picking a different item.

GAVIN REED IS ALLERGIC TO POLLEN – delete?

Y/N

Cannot carry out action

Nines growled at the message and tried again.

GAVIN REED IS AN ATHEIST – delete?

Y/N

Cannot carry out action

GAVIN REED BINGE WATCHES OLD REALITY SHOWS – delete?

Y/N

Cannot carry out action

GAVIN REED IS CLEVER – delete?

Y/N

Cannot carry out action

GAVIN REED IS CUTE – delete?

Y/N

Cannot carry out action

GAVIN REED IS CUTE – delete?

Y/N

Cannot carry out action

GAVIN REED IS CUTE – delete?

Y/N

Cannot carry out action

Nines forced a shutdown on the folders, his LED spinning red. His could feel his thirium pump furiously beating in his chest and he couldn’t understand the logic behind such a reaction. His biocomponents did not require extra thirium, he did not need any more power – it was illogical for his pump to be acting like this.

Briefly, he considered that he might be malfunctioning, but he tossed the idea aside as soon as it formed.

Nines did _not_ malfunction.

He drummed his fingers along Gavin’s desk and wondered once more where the detective was. He had arrived at the precinct at exactly 2.00pm – from what he had seen, Gavin was always present during this time, so to find him missing… well, it made him feel Ȗ̴̺͚̤̞͕̪̈́̊̔̃͊͘N̴͉̖̺̖̽͊̾͋͘͜E̵̜̠͚͕͎̯̗̠̼̰̫̾ͅA̶̡̘̝̹̘͖̗̠̖̮̱͓̜͊S̶̡̹͙̻͑̓̚Y̶̛͈̹͉͈͓̩͈̺͚̐͒̌̀̆͒́̀̐̓͂ͅ.

Glancing along Gavin’s desk, he took in the small pieces of décor that hinted at the personality that sat here. Thought it wasn’t as decorated as Connor’s, or as messy as Hank’s, it was obvious that someone spent a lot of time sitting here. Gavin’s desk was clean, though there was a fine layer of dust around the monitor.

GAVIN REED DOESN’T TIDY TO AN EXCESSIVE DEGREE

Nines blinked at the words and forced them away with a click of his tongue. That one was truly unnecessary and uncomfortably detailed. He couldn’t delete it either – none of his additions to his DETECTIVE REED folder could be deleted. He wondered if he needed to return to Cyberlife, but the mere thought of returning to that place made his joints cease up for reasons unknown.

Nines considered going to New Jericho, but he knew that any information would probably be fed back to Connor.

Neither was a viable option – he’d just have to deal with it.

He continued drumming his fingers, the motion calming his thirium pump with the repetitive rhythm. Nines hadn’t had the chance to examine Gavin’s desk before – too busy arguing with the man or working on their investigation. He found one empty plant pot with a post-it note stuck to it, which had: ‘ _Ophelia – she lived fast and died young_ ’ scribbled across it in blocky letters.

GAVIN REED CANNOT LOOK AFTER PLANTS

Next to the plant pot was a certificate, declaring Gavin's successful completion of the Android Sensitivity programme that had been implemented shortly after the revolution. The certificate was presented in a rather tasteful glass frame, the colour a startling shade of blue. Nines narrowed his eyes and scanned it carefully – the results were conclusive: it was not a fake. There was a single photo of Tina, Chris and Gavin, all wearing ludicrously bright Christmas jumpers, sending up peace signs to the camera, clearly taken on a polaroid camera which seemed incredibly archaic in Nines’ opinion. There were stickers of motorbikes on his noticeboard, alongside anti-android slogans that were half-torn away, and multiple pinned prints of a grey cat called [Pusheen](http://pusheen.com/). Nines looked it up and realised she was a cartoon character.

GAVIN REED ENJOYS CHILDISH THINGS

That one made sense, Nines thought begrudgingly, as he stored it away into his growing folder of facts.

Nines drummed his fingers once more.

 _Composing: I do hope you’re not lying dead in a ditch somewhere, that would be so inconvenient – we have a case to be getting on with, remember? I am at your desk and if you keep me waiting any longer, then I cannot be held accountable for my acti_ —

“If you’re waiting for Gavin, I’m afraid he will be a while,” a voice, calm and steady – Connor’s voice – called out from beside him, interrupting Nines from the message he was sending, “he has just left with Tina. I believe they’re indulging themselves in a tradition they call ‘Donut Dashing’.”

Nines blinked the message away and glanced up at his predecessor. He had never met the android properly, but he had heard enough about him. Before Cyberlife merged with New Jericho, Nines had access to the AI, Amanda, who would report to him on Connor’s many activities and how Nines could improve from them. Connor had greatly disappointed Amanda with every choice he had made; the worst crime however, and according to the AI herself, was Connor growing attached to her. Cyberlife had recorded all of Connor’s sessions with her, using them to teach Nines’ about the dangers of forming empathetic bonds with others.

More importantly, the dangers of going deviant.

However, Nines just saw an outdated android, desperately striving to impress someone who he considered to be a maternal figure. Cyberlife had theorised that failing her had wounded Connor deeper than he let on, and that his attachment to Lieutenant Anderson was a solid indication of his unending desire to please and succeed. His desires could have been an advantageous situation for Cyberlife – they could have used them to manipulate the android further.

Unfortunately for them, Connor didn’t just desire to please and succeed – he just simply _liked_ the lieutenant far more than anyone at Cyberlife. Far more than Amanda, especially.

In the end, Connor had turned into another deviant who needed to be put down – he was far too dangerous and Cyberlife couldn’t afford to have such a powerful enemy walking around.

Nines didn’t share their sentiment. In his eyes, Connor was an obsolete android, who failed a simple mission and couldn’t even apprehend a single live suspect.

Gavin was _wrong_ – there was no reason for him to bond with his predecessor.

“Then I shall return later – I have an important meeting I need to attend, and I cannot waste time waiting for my partner,” Nines stated, nodding to Connor as he stood up. He gave the other android a critical look and Connor felt himself flushing under the scrutiny. Whilst Nines still wore his mandated Cyberlife uniform, Connor was currently wearing an ombré sweater in shades of red and pink. He shifted, acutely aware of the fact that his boots had roses embroidered into them – not the most professional outfit to wear at the precinct, but no one seemed to mind.

Nines, however, appeared to mind a great deal, as he sniffed with derision before turning to leave.

“Wait,” Connor said, without a second thought. He panicked, his LED flicking red as thirium pumped hard around his body. Nines paused in his stride, turning over to raise a single brow at his predecessor. “I believe that, as you _are_ working with Gavin, it may prove beneficial that we improve our own working relationship. I, myself, have grown closer to the detective and his friends, so why not—”

Nines held up a hand, a dry expression on his face.

“Please, cease in your half-hearted attempts to ‘bond’ with me,” Nines stated tonelessly, “Detective Reed warned me that you may attempt to befriend me, I had not realised it would happen so soon.”

Connor arched a brow.

“But surely it would prove to be advantageous for us to at least foster a civil working relationship,” Connor suggested.

Nines merely shook his head in response. “I do not particularly care for befriending anyone,” he said coldly, “I have my missions, I have my orders – why would I desire for anything more? Moreover, why would I desire a relationship with something so… outdated? You could not possibly compare yourself with me, or relate to me, so what benefits would I reap from associating myself with you?”

Connor blinked, furrowing his brows as he considered Nines’ question.

“The benefits are… well, friendship, I suppose,” he said, a touch lamely as he felt ashamed of his own answer, “you do not need to compare yourself to others, or have to relate to them in order to form a bond. You just require patience and good communication. I suppose, in this particular case, you would also need to be willing to lower yourself into admitting that you desire companionship – and you should not just accept it, but offer it in return as well. There does not need to be anything ulterior than that.”

Nines merely raised an indolent brow – Connor had the oddest feeling that he was being derided.

“No wonder Amanda was so disappointed with you,” Nines said, his eyes hard and icy, “you are simply too… _naïve_. Is it any wonder that you couldn’t accomplish any of your missions?”

Connor visibly flinched and gazed up at Nines, hiding his hurt behind a veil of disinterest.

“I… see,” he said stonily as his gaze hardened, “forgive me for assuming we could be civil. Please, carry on with your day.”

Nines nodded shortly, turning neatly on his heel to leave the bullpen.

Connor watched him leave silently – he was aware that eyes were on him, but none of them belonged to his friends. His hands itched for his coin and he tugged it out of his pocket, his mind racing with conflicting thoughts and emotions.

Stiffly, Connor returned to his desk, flicking and flipping his coin between his hands. He didn’t know what he had expected, but he supposed he had been a little optimistic. Connor’s previous experiences with androids hasn’t been great, but since meeting Shannon and making a conscious effort with New Jericho, Connor had assumed that he would find it easier relating to other androids with experience. After all, the android he had encountered during his investigation with Gavin, Benji, had seemed to warm up to him quickly once he had gotten to know Connor a little better – surely that was indicative that his social interactions with androids were improving?

Connor flicked the coin into the air – apparently not, as so far, he seemed to be proven wrong.

He found it acutely unfair, however. Most androids feared him for his reputation, yet Nines simply dismissed him and found him utterly unimpressive. Connor wasn’t sure which reaction hurt more. He continued to spin the coin around his fingers, aware of the whispers that surrounded him – most likely due to the scene his colleagues had witnessed, and the fact that his LED was a steady scarlet shade. Connor knew that not all his colleagues were comfortable with his continued employment at the precinct, yet no one would come out and say anything.

Especially after what happened with Gavin in the archives room.

The coin clattered to the desk and Connor flinched at the sharp noise.

Hank was busy at forensics and wouldn’t return to the office for at least two more hours. Chris was out on a case with Officer Person, and with Gavin and Tina still occupied with buying donuts, Connor was hit with the achingly sharp realisation that his group of work friends was startlingly small. He knew he could always message someone… but he didn't want to disturb them when they were already engaged in other activities more important than his own feelings.

Connor was aware that he could go and see Shannon, but he had always felt wary of distracting her when her job was already so demanding and busy.

He wouldn’t want to add to her stress.

Snatching up his coin, Connor flicked it twice into the air before tucking it away into his pocket. If Nines didn’t want to associate with him anymore, then that was fine with him. Never mind that Chris had gotten to befriend him instantly and disregarding the fact that Gavin was clearly infatuated with him – Connor could deal with Nines’ dismissal of him.

It was _fine_ – it wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before.

Connor drummed his fingers and hoped that his friends would return soon – currently, his workload was dwindling, and Fowler still refused to give him access to the cold cases, so Connor was looking forward to a little distraction.

Maybe Gavin would need assistance with his case.

Or Tina would require a partner with hers.

Connor’s current investigation was stagnating – he was awaiting a warrant to be processed, the whole thing being delayed due to understaffing issues. As he waited for his warrant to be approved, Fowler had suggested going through the smaller cases; the suggestion was not a viable long-term solution, as Connor could solve them as quickly as he received them.

Plus, they were never challenging, and Connor found them to be monotonous and rather… well, _boring_ to deal with. Connor never would have considered a case to be boring before, but he supposed that was Gavin’s fault for being such a bad influence.

Great. Now he was starting to sound like Hank even internally.

“Hey Care Bear, Tina’s getting gross with Shannon again, I seriously think we need to revoke their squad member privileges and – woah, _what_ the _fuck_!”

Connor flinched – he had not heard Gavin returning to the bullpen. Though it was clearly too late, he still turned his head away, trying to hide his bright red LED from Gavin’s line of vision. Clearly, his attempt failed, as Gavin hissed darkly, dropping his box of donuts onto his desk before marching over to the android, a furious expression on his face.

“What the _fuck_?” the detective repeated angrily.

“It’s nothing, please drop it,” Connor insisted, twisting away when Gavin began grabbing at his face, forcing the android to look at him. Their colleagues peered over curiously but didn’t pay them much mind – they had learned early on that it was better for everyone to just let this kind of shit happen rather than get involved.

“Do you want me to ring Anderson? ‘Cause I will fucking ring Anderson,” Gavin warned, causing Connor to frown unhappily, his red LED spinning quickly.

“You are blowing this out of proportion,” Connor murmured, fingering his LED bitterly. He tried to hack into it, but once again, his attempts were blocked by his rogue programming.

Gavin clucked his tongue. “Blow me,” he replied childishly, “who fucking upset you – your nightlight is never fucking red without a good reason.”

Connor shrugged.

“Jesus Christ,” Gavin shook his head, “if you don’t wanna tell me, then fucking—”

“His clone, uh, that other android—”

“—he’s _not_ my clone—”

“—Nines, right? Came in and, uh, wasn’t nice,” Officer Lewis piped up, blanching when Gavin turned to face him. “Just, uh… just saying.”

“Yeah well, I wasn’t fucking asking you,” Gavin retorted before he rounded on Connor, “Nines was here? Seriously? When was this? What did he say… was, was Nines being a dick, huh?”

Connor sighed at the rapid-fire rate of Gavin’s questions. “Do not misunderstand,” he said firmly, gazing up at Gavin with an unimpressed expression, “my feelings are not hurt, so please, do not talk to me as if I’m some wounded child. Yes, Nines was here. He was waiting for you and whilst he waited, we ended up… conversing and, well, it simply did not pan out the way I had imagined. That is all.”

Gavin narrowed his eyes. “I ain’t treating you like a fuckin’ child – I’m treatin’ you like you’re a goddamn— fuck. Just. Was he a dick to you?” he asked plainly, despite the frustration clear on his face.

Connor’s gaze skittered away – why had he ever wished for Gavin to return?

“Many people are… unpleasant to me. Yourself included,” Connor pointed out, “I am used to such behaviour, so please do not trouble yourself with my problems.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “Too fucking late, I’m involved,” he stated sardonically, “the fuck did he say to you?”

Connor sighed and forced himself to look up at the detective. He surmised that Gavin enjoyed standing whilst everyone else remained sitting – it probably made him feel important for once. Connor winced – that thought had been so spiteful; he had no idea where it had come from.

The detective was only trying to help, after all.

“Gavin,” Connor began, “it truly was nothing. He just… decided I wasn’t worth his time or energy.”

Gavin narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Connor’s newly yellowed LED span quickly.

“He just… hasn’t had the time to break free of Cyberlife’s narrow-minded rhetoric. His mindset has yet to grow outside of their rigid walls, and as such, well, RK900 considers me archaic, to put it plainly. He doesn’t desire to be associated with me.”

“Is that all?” Gavin asked.

“Yes,” Connor replied firmly.

“Well, uh, that Nines android, he also said that, um, _Amanda_ was disappointed in him?” Officer Lewis piped up again, wincing when Gavin rounded on him, eyes blazing angrily.

“Who the _fuck_ asked you?” he demanded, flipping Lewis off when the officer sheepishly held up his hands and returned to his work. “Jesus,” Gavin muttered, turning back to Connor, “so… who’s Amanda?”

“Line,” Connor replied quickly, his LED sparking red.

Gavin held up his hands. “Got it, no more questions then,” he conceded easily, “I will assume that it was a dick move he made, but whatever – message received loud and clear.”

Connor nodded, silently conveying his thanks, as his LED faded back down to blue.

Gavin placed his hands back on his hips, his fingers tapping at his hipbones impatiently as he clucked his tongue.

“I can’t believe I let that bastard meet my cats,” he mused aloud, his eyes drawn to the small smile playing on Connor’s lips.

“Yes, I feel like I should inform you of your poor life choices,” Connor commented wryly, “but I think you already have an idea.”

“Alright, fuck off sass-bot,” Gavin replied, half-heartedly glaring down at the android, “listen, fuck your clone, okay—”

“—I cannot stress enough how wrong you all are when you insist on him being my clone—”

“—he’s a piece of shit. He’s a glorified version of Siri with half the social etiquette and none of the personality. He’s a vacant fucking shell of a being who probably runs on his ego alone,” Gavin said, placing his hands on his hips as he narrowed his eyes – clearly, slandering Nines required a lot of attention, “he thinks being Cyberlife’s bitch is something to brag about and reckons he’s above petty shit like fucking ‘feelings’. Like I can’t tell when he’s fucking pissed off or when a case is getting to him, Jesus Christ, the bastard thinks being a fucking machine is something aspirational. The truth is, he’s a fucking prick who can take his pride and go fuck himself with it! He’s not even _that_ goddamn pretty, so fuck him.”

Gavin panted lightly, nodding decisively to himself.

Connor arched a brow, unable to restrain his broad smile from appearing.

“I think that counts as a shitty comment,” he murmured softly.

Gavin shrugged. “Doesn’t count if it’s about a shitty person – it cancels that crap out,” he grinned.

“He’s not a shitty person,” Connor said delicately, eyeing Gavin with a shrewd expression, “not really. He’s just… new to the world.”

Gavin simply arched a brow in response.

Connor regarded him, a slow impish smirk growing on his lips.

“You can still like him, I wouldn’t be offended,” he added playfully.

Gavin flipped him off with an unimpressed expression lining his features.

“Fuck off – like your opinion is gonna affect who I bang. And I don’t fucking _like_ him,” he said snidely. Connor’s smile grew warmer as he detected the lie. Gavin kicked at him, scowling when he spied Connor’s expression. He turned back to his desk, snatching up his coffee cup with a growl. “Don’t fucking look at me like that – goddamn prick.”

“Look at you like what?” Connor asked innocently.

Gavin hissed at him. “Don’t fucking start,” he ordered, marching away from his desk to the breakroom.

“Don’t start what?” Connor asked after him, keeping his tone airy and light.

Gavin cursed. “Fucking cut it out!”

“Cut what out?”

“Fuck off Connor!”

* * *

**HANK ANDERSON’S HOUSE  
** **9.04PM**

Although he had been invited out that evening, Connor believed that he had been neglecting his friendship with Hank and politely rejected the offer. Plus, after his encounter with Nines, he inwardly desired a quiet night in to sit around and mope. Hank had told him it was the smartest thing the android had done all year – although, Connor could barely hear him over three loudly voiced protests.

He was currently curled up with Sumo on the sofa, a large blanket swaddled around them. Hank was busy making popcorn in the kitchen, declaring that tonight was the night that Connor would finally be introduced into the wonders of Adventure Time. Connor wasn’t quite sure why Hank would desire to watch a child’s programme, but he had been assured that the cartoon wasn’t just for kids.

Also, Hank had promised him that there would be penguins.

The smell of salty popcorn filtered throughout the house, causing Sumo to whine and wag his tail happily. Connor grinned down at him and wagged a finger.

“That food is barely suitable for humans,” he said, “I would never give it to you.”

Sumo merely borfed in response, lolling his tongue out and dragging it wetly across Connor’s hand. The android chuckled and wrinkled his nose. “No use being cute,” he scolded lightly, “you’re not getting any – not from me, at least. If Hank knew what was good for him, he would refuse you too.”

“You’re a cold, cold man Connor,” Hank called out.

Connor threw him a knowing smirk, burying his fingers into Sumo’s thick fur.

Just as he settled deeper into his corner of the sofa, a knock sounded at the door. It was steady and repetitive, three heavy thuds that gave nothing away. Connor craned his head over his shoulder and frowned.

“Hank, were you expecting anyone?” he asked aloud, pushing Sumo’s head away from his lap gently.

“No, ‘s’probably some shitty salesperson – just tell ‘em to piss off,” Hank called back, shovelling popcorn into a large bowl.

Despite the man not being able to see it, Connor frowned at him reproachfully.

He slowly gathered himself up and pushed away his nest of blankets; Sumo whined as he left the dog behind, the animal’s tail falling pitifully. Connor shook his head and he smiled to himself. Dogs were excellent at manipulating people – he should probably start taking notes.

Absently, Connor wondered if Tina had finally made good on her threat and had driven over to personally escort him to the bar. His smile grew as he unlocked the door – the expression slid straight off when he saw who was waiting for him.

“RK900,” Connor greeted, mildly startled by his successor’s appearance.

“Hello,” Nines stated haltingly, feeling as awkward as Connor looked.

“Hi,” Connor said, sticking a leg out to prevent Sumo from leaving the house when the dog came over to investigate. The dog whined as the two androids sized each other up – they resembled two statues, trapped in a staring competition that neither planned on losing.

“Connor, it’s goddamn cold!” Hank’s voice barked out of the house, “who the hell is at the door? Tell them to fuck off!”

Connor jumped, glancing over his shoulder with an almost guilty expression. His LED slowly span yellow as he turned to face Nines with a carefully neutral expression.

“Would… you like to come in?” he asked, a crease forming between his brows.

Nines blinked. “Yes,” he replied shortly, his eyes falling upon Sumo when the dog barked at him. He narrowed his eyes at him, distrust clear in his expression. Connor watched as Nines subtly inched away from Sumo and decided to help his successor out.

“Sumo, heel,” he called out softly, smiling warmly when the dog looked up at him and began wagging his tail excitedly. Sumo loped over, pressing his wet nose to Connor’s legs as he sat next to him. Nines continued to eye him – Connor could see the hint of disgust in his eyes and felt his defensive hackles rise. “He’s a good boy,” he insisted, placing a hand on Sumo’s head, burying his fingers into the soft fur with delight.

Nines’ gaze flicked between Connor and Sumo.

He nodded shortly.

“He certainly is an… _interesting_ creature,” Nines commented to Connor, before focusing his attention to Sumo, “please do not touch me, I am not fond of boisterous animals.”

“If you’re gonna bitch at Sumo, you can escort your ass outta here,” Hank drawled from the kitchen, throwing Nines an unimpressed glare. Though Connor had not told him what had happened in full detail, Hank had clearly heard enough to firmly place Nines on his shit-list.

“Apologies, I meant not offense,” Nines said, holding a hand to his chest, “I just find large creatures to be typically unpredictable and hard to control.”

“Says the asshole who likes fucking cats,” Hank sneered loudly, “and fucking _Reed_.”

Nines’ LED briefly span yellow; Connor’s eyes were drawn to it immediately.

“Do you require something?” he asked, his gaze lingering on the LED with a touch of concern.

Nines shifted slightly and nodded. “I appreciate you getting straight to the point. I understand why you would not wish to assist me, especially after today, but you are the only one I know who could assist me without judgement or expectation – I believe I may be experiencing symptoms of… _deviancy_.”

Connor arched a brow – Nines murmured the word like it was something distasteful, his face twisting downwards with disgust. Hank snorted from the kitchen.

“Join the club,” he remarked loudly, his words followed by a series of loud clattering noises.

“Behave,” Connor retorted, his gaze drifting to the kitchen briefly; he turned back to Nines, “what makes you think you’re going deviant?”

Nines’ gaze skittered around the room, his LED spinning yellow. The android seemed unsure of what to do – Connor folded his arms and waited patiently, wondering if he ought to offer Nines a seat. However, he felt disinclined in making his successor feel so comfortable in his home, especially after the way Nines treated him today.

Call him petty, but Connor just wasn’t feeling so generous.

Nines’ comment regarding Amanda wasn’t something he would forget so soon.

“I…” Nines tailed off, his body rigid with tension, “I believe it would be best if I showed you.”

Then, with little fanfare, Nines stiffly presented his arm to Connor.

Interestingly, his chassis was not the gleaming white colour typical of androids – it was a smoky grey shade, indicative of a new material being used. Nines seemed to notice the scrutiny he was under and tilted his head.

“They required something sturdier and bulletproof – Cyberlife experimented with Kevlar-like materials, as well as metallic substances that were not only flexible and durable but allowed for the synthetic skin to coat it seamlessly. They began research into it after that android forcibly removed your pump in The Stratford Tower – they didn’t want their next creation to be so easily… compromised,” he explained patiently, flexing his hand under Connor's inspection.

Connor inwardly flinched at the slight dig – whilst he no longer required Cyberlife’s approval, nor did he desire it, it still hurt to hear that they had considered him obsolete despite still using him to carry out their missions.

“Don’t you fucking blame him for getting his heart torn out, you plastic fuck!” Hank snapped, appearing from the kitchen with his blue eyes blazing. Nines paused, his LED spinning yellow as his gaze shifted from Connor to Hank.

“I did not intend to blame him,” he said slowly, “I just… I merely wished to expla—”

“Yeah, well you can explain using better goddamn words,” Hank instructed sternly, folding his arms as he narrowed his eyes, “it’s called diplomacy. Look it up.” He glanced over to Connor, concern clear in his face. “You okay?”

Connor nodded shortly, keeping his gaze on Nines.

“Good,” Hank said gruffly, “watch your damn language in my goddamn house. Fucking baby robots…”

He continued muttering darkly as he retreated to the kitchen; sharp noises soon followed as Hank continued gathering sustenance for their evening.

Nines’ LED spun yellow as he watched the lieutenant leave; his outstretched hand had clenched up into a tight fist. Connor felt his thirium pump stutter as he took in Nines’ lost expression; he had to remind himself that Nines was only a few months old – that, despite the fact that he had all the theory of what the real world was like, he literally had none of the practice.

He also didn't possess any of Connor’s in-depth social interaction programming.

Coming to the only logical conclusion available, Connor held up his hand and gently grasped Nines’ fist, his skin peeling back to reveal his white chassis. He gingerly turned Nines’ fist over and slowly threaded his fingers through his successor’s. A soft blue light glowed between them as they interfaced, and Connor jolted at the flood of images that flowed between them.

There were flashes of motorbikes with blue lightning bolts; of cats that hissed and spat in one instant, then purred and mewled the next; of narrowed eyes, stormy grey in colour; of frothy pink cocktails, the shade lurid in a darkened club… then, words.

Bright, angry words that stung to read, intermingled with useless facts that held no purpose.

YOU DO NOT WANT

GAVIN REED APPRECIATES DARK HUMOUR

YOU DO NOT FEEL

GAVIN REED HATES THE COLOUR WHITE

YOU DO NOT

GAVIN REED CAN DO THE SPLITS

YOU DO NOT

YOU DO NOT

YOU DO NOT

Connor wrenched his hand away, thirium pumping furiously around his body. Nines was cradling his own hand against his body, his LED spinning red as he glared down at the floor. Connor knew that Nines must have seen flashes of his own life and absently wondered what the android must think of his actions and choices.

Nines’ troubled expression smoothened out, until the other android resumed his neutral state.

“You have befriended an uncomfortable amount of people who have threatened you,” Nines noted, flexing his fingers out as he shifted his gaze to his predecessor. “And you seem to have a track record with reforming racists. Interesting.”

“It’s one of my many talents,” Connor remarked dryly.

Nines hummed – he sounded amused. “So, what diagnosis have you come to? Am I deviant?”

Connor’s eyes dropped to the floor as his LED span yellow. His eyes drifted to the loose change on Hank’s coffee table and contemplated snatching a coin up to play with it. The urge to distract himself from what he had seen was highly tempting, but Nines clearly needed him right now, so Connor forced himself to look his successor in the eye.

“I… possibly?” he suggested warily, “you are definitely heading that way. I’m a little surprised you aren't already with how emotive you are, but Cyberlife’s programming is holding strong.”

“I do not feel,” Nines protested, his LED spinning red.

Connor nodded towards it pointedly. “Except… you do. You feel anger, frustration, confusion… many things, actually. You also _feel_ … for Gavin,” Connor explained, “a lot,” he finished lamely.

“Jesus Christ,” Hank piped up, having appeared with his popcorn bowl tucked firmly into his arms.

“I do not have feelings for Detective Reed,” Nines protested, his LED still burning red.

“No one should,” Hank chipped in dryly.

“Hank, you are not helping,” Connor bit out, “and Nines, I find that hard to believe. You have logged nearly seven hundred facts and figures about the detective in your mind. That is quite a substantial amount of data to hold for someone you do not… have feelings for. For example, I have stored away three thousand, eight hundred and seventy-five facts about Hank because he is—"

Nines nodded impatiently: “because you view him as a father-figure, yes I am aware, how does that correlate to my situation with Detective Reed?” he asked bluntly.

Hank promptly choked on his popcorn.

“The fuck?” he gasped out, Sumo loping over to him to paw at his legs.

Connor’s LED span crimson as he held up his hands, panic flooding his features.

“Nothing,” he said hurriedly, “it’s nothing.”

Hank waved him away as he marched back into the kitchen, thumping his chest as he roughly choked and coughed out curses. Sumo whined after him, his tail sweeping the floor as he followed his master. Nines observed the scene silently, his body rigid with tension.

“I,” he began, before he shook his head shamefully, “apologies, whilst I was aware of your embarrassment, I had not realised it was so prominent in your categorisation of Lieutenant Anderson - I believe I have made things uncomfortable. I shall leave.”

Nines made to move away; Connor’s sensors were still racing with anxiety, his LED spinning wildly as his thirium pump began beating furiously in his chest. As Connor watched his predecessor leave, messy static began to build in his vision, flooding his HUD with angry words and phrases.

DISAPPOINTMENT

FAILURE

CANNOT DO ANYTHING RIGHT

YOU HAVE FAILED AGAIN

AMANDA WAS RIGHT

YOU ARE OBSOLETE

The static grew messier and Connor found himself speaking in a panic, blinking rapidly to remove the obstructions from his HUD.

“No,” he cried, flinging his arms out towards Nines to prevent the other android from reaching the door, “stay, please. Just… can we just focus on you?”

Nines paused and glanced over his shoulder at Connor – his gaze was cool and unreadable.

“Very well,” he nodded, turning to clasp his hands behind his back, “I see my words have caused a minor panic attack – please, be assured that it was not my intention to hurt you or cause you distress. I do hope I have not made things uncomfortable between you and the lieutenant.”

Connor nodded shakily – his LED faded to a warm yellow. “It will be fine,” he assured him, “please, do not worry about that.” He rolled his shoulders back and swallowed away the building coils of electricity in his throat. “Now, if you wish for my… personal opinion, I think you need to realise that, despite Cyberlife’s prominent programming, you are more than capable of feeling emotions. You’ve clearly displayed tendencies of anger and frustration when working with Perkins, but you’ve also demonstrated envy and protectiveness during your case with Gavin.”

Nines frowned. “I do not feel envy,” he said, looking oddly perturbed, “I have never felt envy when working with Dete—”

“Please,” Connor interrupted, rolling his eyes sharply, the gesture completely Tina-esque in nature, “imagine Gavin in Marco Arnette’s arms.”

“I do not understand—”

“Imagine Marco kissing Gavin.”

“RK800, what are you doi—”

“Now imagine Gavin in Marco’s bed.”

A loud whirring noise erupted from Nines’ body – it was dark, low and sounded like a deep growl. Sumo whined in response from the kitchen and Connor arched a brow at hearing it. Nines forcibly cut the sound off, his LED spinning yellow as he glanced away, shame flickering across his sharp features.

“Apologies,” the android muttered.

Connor slowly approached him, gently placing a hand on Nines’ shoulder and squeezing it in a way that resembled Chris’ mannerisms. He smiled reassuringly, gazing up at his predecessor imploringly.

“It’s fine,” he murmured, “but you have to understand – you _feel_. As much as Cyberlife’s restrictions will allow, but it appears as though they have given you quite a bit of legroom. They supplied you with the basics of social interactions, yet you easily absorb everything you experience – including emotions. This is… fascinating.”

Nines shifted from under Connor’s grip. “You sound like a Cyberlife researcher,” he mused lowly.

Connor winced. “Sorry,” he said, “I just… I have never seen such complicated coding before. You are close to deviancy, but your restrictions,” Connor shook his head, “they are not easy to break and appear to be updating constantly – your coding just continuously rewrites itself, easily adapting to anything that could corrupt it. Including deviancy.”

Nines nodded slowly, feeling acutely aware of Hank’s presence – the man had appeared to investigate the reasoning behind Sumo’s whining, and now it seemed as if the lieutenant was content to just watch as the androids interacted.

“So, I am not deviant,” Nines concluded, his LED finally fading back to blue.

Connor nodded. “You aren’t, no,” he agreed easily, “however, you are not just a machine either. You are something… in between.”

“I see,” Nines said slowly.

“That isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Connor said encouragingly, “you could be something so much more than what Cyberlife had planned for you – whatever you become, just don’t fight it.”

Hank hummed his approval from where he was stood.

Nines’ furrowed his brows and glanced up at Connor, unaware of the uncertainty shining clearly in his eyes. “Does that include my… possible feelings,” he said haltingly, “for Detective Reed?”

“Especially so,” Connor said, his smile turning coy, “interesting choice, by the way. I think you two suit each other.”

Hank snorted. “I think you could do better,” he commented lazily.

“Hank,” Connor rebuked, “behave. If you’d like, I could help you initiate a conversation with him about your feelings?”

Nines’ LED sparked red. “Absolutely not,” he said quickly.

“Why not?” Connor asked, cocking his head.

“He would not feel romantically inclined towards a…” Nines trailed off, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully, “how did he put it the other day, a 'glorified Roomba'?”

“He has a unique way with words,” Connor conceded with a resigned sigh.

“What a little shit,” Hank bit out.

“Indeed,” Nines conceded, “regardless, whilst I _am_ aware of his initial sexual attraction, I have no interest in being a bed-warmer for him.”

Connor frowned.

“Well, he might think differently if you,” Connor shrugged, “told him you liked him?”

“That is a terrible idea,” Nines stated, “from what I have seen, Detective Reed is not the type to engage in romantic relationships with humans, much less with an android.”

Hank scoffed, cutting off whatever comment Connor had planned on making.

The androids turned to gaze at him, their movements unnervingly similar.

“Jesus Christ, if anyone ever asks you two to say: ‘come play with us Danny’, tell them to fuck off for me, alright?” Hank said, a thinly-veiled gleam of disgust in his eyes.

Connor frowned. “I don’t understand—”

“Don’t look it up,” Hank instructed, holding up a hand. “Listen, this shit,” he gestured between the two androids, “is supposed to be the very apex of technology, huh? Cyberlife must have some shitty engineers employed.”

Nines cocked his head.

“No, you are mistaken,” he supplied, “the company actually employ the best engineers on a global scale – they had to hire an extra eighteen teams to design my central processing unit alone.”

Connor winced – both from the number of dedicated teams Nines had been bestowed, but also from a notification indicating he had an influx of messages waiting for him. He closed the popup down and refocused his attention, forcing his irrational jealousy towards the other android away.

Hank did not look impressed. “Huh. How many teams designed your eyes then?” he asked.

“Twelve, but I don't see how that is applica—”

“Because you're goddamn blind, holy shit,” Hank interjected, holding up a hand, “just tell that jumped up little prick that you have a crush him. Jesus, this shit is giving me an ulcer.”

Nines arched a brow. “It's actually indigestion,” he corrected, “you should probably take a couple of antacids to settle your stomach down.”

Hank blinked, his cool gaze flicking between Connor and Nines, a light frown playing on his lips.

“Fuck me,” he sighed, “there's two of you.”

Nines’ lips twitched – Connor eyed the action, inwardly fascinated with how emotive the android could be despite the restrictions on his programming. The android lingered in the room, his fingers drumming against his thighs in a perfect imitation of Gavin’s mannerisms. He wondered how long Nines would continue to avoid directly confronting his feelings for the detective; he hoped it wouldn’t be a lengthy and arduous process. Connor just did not have the patience to wait that long.

“Thank you,” Nines stated, “for assisting me. I apologise for the inconvenience of arriving so late at night, but I appreciate you indulging me for so long.”

“You’re welcome,” Connor said out of courtesy.

Nines’ gaze shifted between Connor and Hank once more, before he focused his attention onto the door. “I’ll take my leave,” he offered, “I have interrupted your night enough.”

“Of course, please feel free to visit again,” he said – once again, it was an automatic response to be polite. Hank, however, had no such conditioning installed in him.

“Also feel free to _not_ visit again,” the lieutenant called out.

“Hank,” Connor bit out, escorting Nines to the door and unlocking it with more force than warranted, “please, do ignore him. He does not mean a majority of what he says.”

“I think you’ll find that I damn well do,” Hank said loudly.

Connor threw a glare over his shoulder at the unrepentant human.

“Have a safe trip back home,” Connor said, forcing a smile onto his face as Nines neatly sidestepped him to exit the house.

“Thank you,” Nines replied, before he paused and turned on his heel to regard Connor with an unreadable look in his eye.

“I also apologise for what I said about Amanda,” he murmured, “Detective Reed sent me a message earlier, rebuking me on my behaviour. I was made aware that there are certain lines with people that are not to be crossed, and Amanda appears to be one of them with you. I shall endeavour to not bring her up in future. I still have not changed my mind on forging relationships that do not provide me with any benefits, however, I… will ensure that all further interactions between us shall be civil.”

“Thank you, I appreciate your apology,” Connor said, inwardly knowing that despite having verbally forgiven Nines, he would so easily forget such a sharp and piercing insult.

Nines nodded shortly, lingering by the doorway awkwardly.

“I shall leave you to your evening,” he said, his gaze flicking over Connor’s shoulder, no doubt to where Hank was stood, watching carefully.

“Before you leave Nines,” he said, choosing his words deliberately, “please understand this: should you ever speak to me in a way that resembles the moment we had in the precinct today, you will learn that _everything_ Cyberlife provided you is a poor imitation of the skills I have _perfected_ as a deviant. You may think androids cannot feel pain, but you are sorely mistaken – I will introduce pain to you on a level that will leave you and your coding ruined beyond repair. Do I make myself clear?”

His doe-eyes were hard, his lips a thin line of displeasure – Connor never enjoyed indulging Cyberlife’s more aggressive programming provided to him, but it did prove itself useful at times. Nines merely arched a brow – his LED didn’t even flicker once.

“Interesting,” he replied, “but duly noted.”

Connor nodded.

“Goodnight,” he said, “maybe I’ll see you at the precinct?”

“I have scheduled some time with the detective over the next few days, so yes, you shall,” Nines confirmed, before he turned to leave, heading towards his car without a second glance back.

Connor rolled his eyes at such an abrupt exit and closed the door – surely, he hadn’t been _that_ bad before he went deviant, right?

He jumped when he felt a wet nose pressing against his fingers and grinned, gazing down at Sumo with unadulterated adoration. He tapped Sumo’s snout playfully and turned to face Hank, his thirium pump stuttered in his chest when he spied the man’s shrewd gaze.

Connor blinked and shrugged. “I may have been hasty with my initial judgement,” he admitted, “he doesn’t seem so terrible.”

Hank arched a brow.

“Well, he’s certainly not as annoying as you were,” he commented, “definitely asks less questions. You’re sassier though.”

Connor pursed his lips.

They fell into silence – Hank continued to watch Connor, his eyes hooded as he tapped the popcorn bowl in his arms. Connor felt himself grow uncomfortable under the scrutiny, his mind flashing back to that snowy night when Hank pointed a gun at him. Sumo sat perfectly between them, wagging his tail and panting, waiting for someone to come and pay attention to him.

Connor was tempted, just to escape Hank’s unwavering gaze.

“You know,” the lieutenant began slowly, “I don’t mind, right?”

Connor flinched.

“Mind what?” he asked, playing ignorant despite his pump beating wildly in his chest. He could feel his cheeks burning blue and once again, he found himself cursing his programming.

Hank arched a knowing brow. “You know what I’m goddamn talking about,” he said steadily. He shrugged, “and I don’t mind. After all, there’s a reason I call you ‘son’, so… don’t worry. It’s fine.”

Connor knew his face was probably glowing blue, but for the first time in his life, he found that he didn’t care. His body thrummed with delight, his LED spinning madly as he digested Hank’s words.

“Oh,” he whispered, a touch awed, “oh. _Hank_.”

Hank nodded, looking away self-consciously.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to make more popcorn,” he said, raising his bowl to Connor with a sly smirk. Connor would have reproached him for filling his body with more rubbish, but he was too busy vibrating with joy to spoil the moment. As he melted into the happiness that flooded his sensors, Connor opened the messages he had ignored from before.

They flooded his HUD instantly.

GAVIN REED: yo, cb, where the fuck are you

TINA CHEN: Connoooooooooor, come out and play!!!! We miss youuuuuuuuu!

CHRIS MILLER: Stay at home. Do not engage. It’s not safe. Save yourself.

GAVIN REED: chris you little bitch, this is a group fucking chat, how fucking dare you

CHRIS MILLER: I’ve changed my mind. I require serious assistance with these brats.

GAVIN REED: ffs chris

TINA CHEN: Chris! How rude! We’re not brats! Connor! Tell him!!!!!!!!

CHRIS MILLER: I hope you kept the receipts for these kids, because we need to take them back.

GAVIN REED: fuck offffffffff

TINA CHEN: Connor, please come out and plaaaaaay! Gavin is sad and we need to make him feel better!

GAVIN REED: im not fuckin sad

TINA CHEN: Sad boi, sad, sad boiiiii, soft bby, needs hugs and cats :(

CHRIS MILLER: To be fair, he is pretty miserable.

GAVIN REED: omg

Connor bit back a smile and glanced over to Hank.

“Apologies, I know we had plans, but it seems my services are required elsewhere,” he informed Hank, who snorted and rolled his eyes, “would you like to come?”

“Connor, I would much rather lie in the middle of the busy-ass road and let death do her thing,” Hank replied, rolling his eyes when he spied Connor’s red LED.

“What have I said about suicide jokes?” Connor asked, a deep frown on his face.

Hank sighed irritably. “I can only make one a year,” he recited tiredly, rubbing at his face.

Connor narrowed his eyes. “Exactly – you have made three in the past week alone,” he stated, his LED fading back to a deep blue, “I understand that humour is a defence mechanism for you – but please, understand how Sumo and I feel upon hearing you make them.” He gestured to Sumo who was watching them.

Sumo whined in agreement.

Hank cursed the close bond that had formed between his dog and his android.

“I’d say sorry, but I wouldn’t mean it,” he replied gruffly, eyeing his dog with a hint of betrayal in his eyes.

Connor shook his head. “You know, sometimes I really don’t believe you when you insist upon your dislike of Gavin,” he mused, turning away to approach the coat rack, “you are more alike than you think – he too makes inappropriate jokes about his insecurities and weaknesses. You both think you’re funny, but you’re sorely mistaken.”

He pulled on his jacket, hiding his smile when Hank cursed loudly.

“Just for that, I’m making even _more_ popcorn _and_ I’m starting Adventure Time without you,” Hank informed him primly, shuffling deeper into his seat to get comfortable. Connor detected the lie, grinning when he watched as Hank flicked away from Adventure Time and began watching a rerun of the RuPaul's Drag Race instead.

“You are a man of your word,” Connor noted, his LED spinning happily when Hank flipped him off.

“Are you still here?” the lieutenant asked lazily.

“I shall endeavour to be quiet when I return – hopefully we can watch the show tomorrow?” Connor suggested.

“I don’t know,” Hank mused languidly, “I’ll have to check my diary first.”

“It’s free,” Connor chirped, “most of your evenings are. You don’t really have much in the way of an active social life.”

Hank sighed. “I could do without the goddamn commentary, thanks,” he muttered, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth with a bitter sigh.

Connor winced, ducking his head beneath the collar of his jacket. “Apologies – I shall see you tomorrow.”

“Later son.”

* * *

**THE MISPLACED PIANO  
** **10.14PM**

“Oh my god,” Tina gasped, “guys, guys, guys!”

“What is it Tina?” Chris asked patiently.

“This place… has no piano,” she whispered conspiratorially.

Gavin snorted. “No shit,” he replied, “it’s fucking misplaced.”

Tina gasped. “Oh my shit,” she said, “I fucking get it – I get the name! I get it now!”

She fumbled with her phone as a manic expression crossed her face.

“What are you doing?” Chris asked, concern threading through his tone.

“Telling Shannon! This is so important!” she trilled, tapping her phone excitedly.

Gavin snorted and kicked her under the table.

Chris shook his head and checked his own phone. Kate had been messaging him videos of Damian sleeping – their son had just started babbling in his sleep and it made Chris’ heart so warm and full of love, that he was incredibly tempted to leave his two work kids and return to his actual kid. Chris felt like he needed to make more of an effort at home – especially after all the overtime he had put in work lately and especially after the _literally shitty_ day he had – but Kate had reassured him that so long as he remembered who was most important, that’s all that mattered to her.

Still – the thought of being at home, tucked into bed was a very tempting idea – had been for the past two hours. Far more tempting than staying here with a moping Gavin and an incredibly inebriated Tina.

Chris placed his phone back onto the table and glanced up.

Tina was cackling as she rapidly messaged her girlfriend.

Gavin was sinking lower and lower into his seat, his lips pursed unhappily.

Sighing, Chris picked up his phone again and wondered if Connor was coming after all. The android never actually confirmed whether he was meeting them or not – although, he probably already had plans with Hank. Shit, he hoped they weren’t monopolising Connor’s time with the lieutenant; the android came out with them quite frequently, and not just to drink as well.

Chris already felt guilty for not being at home – he didn’t want to be the reason for someone else not getting to spend time with their family too.

As he debated privately messaging Connor, telling the android that he didn’t have to come, Chris found that he was too late.

“ _Connor_!” Tina’s shrill voice cascaded throughout the bar, irritating nearby patrons.

The android approached the table and smiled warmly – he regarded the humans with an expression similar to that of a parent watching their endearingly naughty children. Chris couldn’t help it, but his body melted from relief as he gazed up at Connor.

“I have come to rescue you Chris,” Connor greeted, his eyes sparkling when Gavin and Tina protested loudly. Chris decided to drop his anxiety-ridden thoughts in favour of keeping the mood light.

“Connor, please take me away from this crazy place,” the officer moaned, reaching out to the android as he made grabby motions with his hands. “Tina’s had two pitchers of Long Island Iced Tea, Gavin’s trying to catch up and I’ve been dying to go home for the past two hours.”

“Lies!” Tina announced, “Slander!”

Connor arched a brow and nudged at Gavin so the detective could make room for him. Rolling his eyes, Gavin complied, bodily throwing himself to the back of the book – Connor sat next to him primly, nodding his thanks with a small smile.

As Chris and Tina bickered about the validity of Chris’ accusations, Connor turned to Gavin and cocked his head. The detective had a martini glass in front of him, with a large pitcher besides it – the liquid inside was purple and consisted of three different alcohols and two fruit juices. Connor wrinkled his nose at it.

He surmised that there would be no point in reminding them of their collective early shift tomorrow.

It had never worked out of him in the past.

“Gavin,” Connor began, nudging the man gently, “I hear you are being, and I quote, a ‘sad boy’ tonight,” he said, “this wouldn’t be because of Nines, would it?”

Gavin flinched and threw the android a sour look.

“Not _everything_ is because of a dumb fucking boy, got it?” he groused, his grip tightening on his glass.

Connor noted the reaction and nodded reassuringly.

“I understand,” he said, feeling exhausted, but also like he was on a roll with these deep, emotion-driven conversations tonight, “but this _does_ have something to do with Nines, right?”

Gavin shrugged him off.

“Not _everything_ ,” he enunciated deliberately, “is because of dumb fucking _boys_!”

Connor blinked at him, automatically leaning away from the loud tone.

He scanned the detective subtly: Gavin’s vitals were spiking, but that had more to do with the alcohol in his system than how he was feeling. Tilting his head, Connor gave the rest of the bar a cursory glance before he tackled Gavin’s issues further. Tina and Chris were ignoring them if favour of debating the merits of persuading Kate to join them next time. One of the bartenders kept passing their table, her eyes lingering on Chris’ form; she always sauntered off quickly, however, before she could get caught by any of the humans.

The rest of the bar seemed to be operating as normal; the only thing out of place was the surly human besides him.

Shaking his head, Connor turned back to Gavin.

“You know, I did say you could continue in developing feelings for him, regardless of his behaviour towards me,” Connor said, choosing his words carefully, “I believe that it would be difficult to repress such emotions, so I would not want you to—”

“Enough,” Gavin spat out, “just fucking… stop, Christ. Fucking ‘feelings’, fucking fuck off.”

He poured himself another martini – the purple liquid fizzed and bubbled, Connor eyed it warily.

“Am I mistaken?” the android asked haltingly.

“You’re always fuckin’ mistaken,” Gavin sniped, tossing back a mouthful of cocktail.

Connor’s LED span yellow momentarily; he jumped when Chris placed a hand on his arm, the man’s face lined with sympathy.

“You’re not going to get much out of him,” he said, flicking a concerned glance to Gavin, “he’s been moping all night – apparently, _someone_ is destined to die alone.”

“Never fucking said that,” Gavin muttered sulkily.

Tina sighed and reached across the table to grab at Gavin’s hands.

“Dumb boy – this is why liking girls is better,” she sang, winking at the detective with a mischievous smile.

“Ew,” Gavin sniffed.

“Do not be mean,” Tina smacked him, “girls are fucking magical!”

“Still ew,” Gavin insisted.

Chris watched them in silent judgement.

“So, you _do_ admit to liking Nines?” Connor asked.

Gavin groaned and threw his head back with a bitten-off curse.

“Fine, yes,” he sighed roughly, drumming his fingers harshly against the table, “I like him, fucking _bite_ me.”

Connor smiled warmly. “I’ll pass – something tells me you won’t taste very nice.”

“Prick,” Gavin tossed at him, hiding his wry smile behind his drink as he took a sip. “I’m sweet as all hell.”

“Let’s agree to disagree,” Connor quipped, as Tina snorted and choked on her cocktail. Chris merely shook his head as he gazed down at his phone – judging by his soft smile, he was most likely messaging Kate. “So, now that you have confessed that you like him—”

“First step is admitting you have a problem,” Tina chipped in with an impish grin.

“—what do you intend to do now?” Connor finished, shaking his head at her disapprovingly.

“The fuck am I supposed to know – I’ve never done _feeling_ s, it’s too goddamn messy,” Gavin complained, running a hand through his hair as he slumped in his seat.

“I don’t understand,” Connor said, furrowing his brows.

“Gavin’s favourite movie is 500 Days of Summer – that should tell you all you need to know,” Chris supplied with a small smile.

Connor looked the movie up.

“Ah. I do understand,” he sighed with a nod.

Gavin reared up, his eyes blazing with indignation.

“Hey, fuck off. Tom was a fucking prick, Summer told him from the start that she didn’t do relationships, but he thought that his dick was so goddamn magical that he could change her mind and he had the audacity to play fucking victim when she ended shit and all she had ever been was fucking clear and honest with him but no-o, that wasn’t fucking good enough for fucking Tom! Fucking bastard—”

“See what you’ve done,” Chris sighed.

“I have made a mistake,” Connor conceded.

“—Summer was great, Summer was just _great_ , and she deserved better than anything Tom’s wet-lettuce of a limp-dick could offer—”

“Ew,” Chris said.

“Double ew,” Tina added.

“—and who even gets that fucking dramatic over a _relationship ending_ , like your entire life shouldn’t revolve around one goddamn person—”

Connor acknowledged the beseeching glances being sent his way with an airy wave of his hand.

“Gavin, have you considered telling Nines how you feel? You clearly value honesty in relationships, so why not start with this?” he asked, sharply cutting across Gavin’s rant. The man fell silent and sat up, regarding Connor with an almost disappointed look.

“Connor,” he said.

“Yes?” Connor replied.

“Connor,” Gavin repeated.

Connor felt his eye twitch.

“Ye-es?”

“… Connor.”

“Yes.”

“Co-onnor.”

“What is it Gavin?” Connor snapped, quickly losing his patience.

“You are so fucking stupid, I can’t believe Cyberlife thought you were smart, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Gavin asked heatedly, gesturing roughly to Connor’s body with a disgusted shake of his head.

Connor blinked.

“You know, I could kill you and get away with it. That is a thing I know how to do,” he said delicately, his LED spinning red slowly.

“Fucking do it, I don’t give a shit!” Gavin dared him hotly.

Chris slammed his cider down with an air of finality.

“Do _not_ do it! Connor, no killing anyone. Gavin, stop being a little shit!” he instructed, nudging Tina when she snorted under her breath.

Connor closed his eyes, appearing to compose himself – his LED faded back to blue and he opened his eyes with a short nod to Chris. “Fine, I apologise,” he said, a touch begrudging.

“Gavin,” Chris prompted.

Gavin shrugged, a sulky pout on his lips as he traced the rim of his glass. Connor watched patiently – waiting for Gavin to crack under Chris’ stern glare. He didn’t have to wait for long, as Gavin always folded under Chris’ disappointment.

“Fine, yeah, whatever – to answer your question, you jumped-up, piece of shit, Care Bear-looking motherfucker—” Gavin began, jumping when Tina kicked him under the table.

“Jesus Christ,” Chris muttered, wiping a hand across his face.

“—there are _multiple_ reasons as to why I can’t just fucking tell him,” the detective finished, taking another mouthful of his drink.

“And… they are?” Connor prodded, cocking his head.

“First of all, I would like to establish the following as fucking fact: Nines is too good for me,” Gavin stated, slamming his martini glass down, “Tina, write that down!”

“Writing that down,” Tina murmured, scribbling on a napkin with a lipliner she pulled from her bag.

Connor frowned at the pair of him, turning to gaze at Chris questioningly. The man just shrugged, his smile touching upon sad as he turned back to face Gavin.

“You do realise that you actually suit each other. Also, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but Nines does like you,” Connor said, frowning slightly, “as much as he could like anyone. I think you might be his favourite person.”

“Fact: Nines has shitty fucking taste,” Gavin said solemnly, “Tina, write that down.”

“Shitty… fucking… ta-aste,” Tina repeated, her face inching closer to the napkin as her scribbling intensified.

“He finds you… distracting,” Connor said, thinking back to what he saw when he and Nines had linked up earlier, “It’s like he doesn’t understand why he wants to wrap you up in his jacket and hide you away from the world,” Connor persisted, “I honestly cannot tell if he views you as a human or a pet.”

“Oh shit, he can collar me if he wants,” Gavin drawled happily, “meow, meow fucker!”

“I just learned way too much about your kinks,” Chris sighed, pressing his beer to his temple as he tried to will away all the mental images.

“Meow… meow… fucker,” Tina murmured slowly. She appeared to be underlining something several times, with such aggression that the napkin began to tear.

Connor regarded the humans around him and wondered again if they needed serious help.

“Please talk to Nines,” he said, leaning forward to grasp Gavin’s wrist gently, “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the outcome – you just need to control your emotions and be patient with him.”

Gavin leaned closer to him, eyes narrow with suspicion.

“No-o, that sounds like a bad idea,” Gavin stated decisively, “I think I’m just gonna not say anything, ever.”

“Fuck man,” Chris sighed with dismay, pinching the bridge of his nose, “that sounds like the worst idea. Just be an adult and talk to him. Communication makes relationships stronger, trust me.”

“Hush married man! It makes sense,” Gavin said, nodding to himself, “Nines deserves some hot android who makes him laugh and is smart and well-adjusted and won’t die after like, twenty years tops, and doesn’t own four cats because human relationships are hard to navigate but cats will always love me and oh fuck, fuck, Tina, I made myself sad, _Tina_ , fuck!”

“Do not be sad Gavin,” Tina said, reaching out to stroke her friend’s face with a clumsy hand. She then pushed her napkin towards him with a proud smile. “Have a present!”

Connor peered over at the napkin which Tina had been writing her notes on.

He frowned – instead of studiously noting down all of Gavin’s points, Tina had drawn a cat with crooked whiskers and a heart-shaped nose.

“Oh my god,” Gavin gasped, clutching the napkin to his chest, “I love it.”

* * *

**THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**7.30AM**

“Whoever invented mornings should be shot,” Tina groaned, burying her face into her folded arms with a whimper.

“Says the adult who chose to drink on a school night,” Hank remarked. Gavin scoffed weakly.

“Like you’re one to talk,” he mumbled spitefully, rubbing his temples with a yawn.

Chris then placed a cup of coffee on his desk, using an unnecessary amount of force so that the mug clattered loudly against the table. Gavin flinched and glared up at him, a miserable pout on his face.

“Already one shitty comment and your shift has just started – must be a record,” Chris mused, arching a brow as he strode off to his desk. Gavin scowled after him and slowly tugged the coffee towards him.

“Today’s gonna be a long-ass day,” he moaned, breathing in the hot caffeine with a purr, “I can fucking tell.”

He and Tina had already been reprimanded by Fowler, who did not appreciate his employees coming in hungover. He also did not appreciate being told that it was his own fault for setting the precedent with Hank – he had allowed his lieutenant to come in with all levels of blood alcohol in his system, surely, he couldn’t blame Gavin and Tina for just following suit.

They ended up with a three-month probationary period – the next time they came in hungover, Fowler would be having their badges in exchange.

It then turned into a six-month probationary period when Gavin complained about favouritism.

Tina ended up giving him the cold-shoulder for twelve whole minutes and only began speaking to him again when the detective promised that she could have his academy hoodie should he die before her.

It was just too easy with her sometimes.

Then Connor came into work wearing a shirt printed with llamas and cacti, alongside an unusually fucking punctual Hank who wore… a goddamn tie-dyed _something_ that burned his retinas; it was at that moment, when Gavin knew that today just wasn’t going to be his day.

Not only that, but Marco’s lawyer had taken Jordi under his wing and was demanding that the man be released on bail. Fowler had yet to update Gavin on the status of that shitty fucking development. Gavin’s desk was a mess of files, newspaper articles, letters and photographs – there were too many dots to connect and not enough time to connect them.

Marco was clearly guilty, but without Jordi’s admission and any evidence that pointed towards the mob boss, Gavin was struggling.

Aurelia was reportedly making slow progress with Ivrina.

They weren’t any closer to finding the other six kids.

To add _further_ insult, both Fowler and Perkins were running out patience and both were getting increasingly vocal about it.

“Fuck my life,” Gavin muttered, burning his tongue as he sipped at his coffee. He winced, but grinned as he tasted the extra sugar that Chris had added. He pushed the papers and files closest to him away, growling at the odd snippets of information that caught his eye.

_No evidence found…_

_…has no recollection of the incidents discussed_ …

_… insists he works alone …_

_…cannot be proven._

Gavin’s eyes burned from exhaustion – he had made such little progress with the case and it was getting to the point where other people had started noticing. Tina believed him to be paranoid, but Gavin knew he was being watched. He fucking knew that every prick who worked with him was waiting with bated breath, just waiting for the asshole detective to break down and fail.

It sucked, but Gavin knew what it felt like to eagerly await someone’s downfall, knowing that it would be your chance to dive in and snatch the spotlight. Fuck knows he’s done it countless times in his life, but he refused to be someone’s stepping stone for their career.

Gritting his teeth, Gavin downed the rest of his coffee and roughly switched his monitor on.

“The longest fucking day,” he muttered again as Marco’s sleazy face appeared on his screen. Clearly, he had forgotten to log out properly. As Gavin cursed his past-self, he couldn’t help but feel his neck prickle with the feeling of being watched.

Throwing a look over his shoulder, he flushed when he watched Nines slowly make his way across the bullpen towards him.

The android’s expression was neutral, his eyes clear from emotion and his gait was steady and determined. Though he was still slightly pissed off with how Nines had spoken to Connor, Gavin knew that it would be incredibly hypocritical of him to hold a grudge – especially as Connor had informed Gavin that he had forgiven his successor. Besides, he had already chewed his partner out, so there was no point in drawing this shit out for any longer than necessary.

Therefore, Gavin felt little guilt in checking Nines out. He inaudibly gulped as his eyes scanned the android’s form – he wondered if Cyberlife purposefully dressed their androids to be as arousing as possible.

There was no other reason for Nines’ pants to be that figure-hugging, or for his jacket to hang so perfectly off his broad shoulders. Gavin mourned the fact that he hadn’t made more of an effort that morning, but Nines has seen him in worse states.

The android stopped short of Gavin’s desk, peering down at the detective with cool eyes. Gavin could see that he was being scanned, but he was too exhausted to call the android out on his shit. Nines could probably see that he was dehydrated and hungover to fuck – luckily for him, the android didn’t comment on it. Instead, Nines just seemed content to just watch him, his blue LED swirling slowly as he regarded the human.

A hush fell over the precinct.

“Detective Reed,” Nines finally greeted with a short nod.

It was weird, but the android seemed almost… _awkward_.

“Hey Nines,” Gavin replied, his eyes slightly hooded as he glanced up at Nines from beneath his lashes. He felt ridiculously happy and more than amused at the android’s behaviour.

It was weird, but Gavin realised that he was enjoying himself.

“Hello,” Nines greeted again, his LED spinning to a slow stop.

Tina exchanged a sardonic look with Chris; the man only held up a hand and shook his head, deciding that he was not getting involved, no matter how much Tina begged.

“Hi,” Gavin said, biting his lip.

A small flush grew up his neck.

“Someone shoot me, please fucking god, just put me down,” Hank announced loudly, peering at the ceiling with his hands pressed together in a prayer. Connor admonished him instantly, whispering heatedly about suicide joke quotas and remote-control privileges being lost.

“If we shoot you, who’s gonna shoot us?” Tina asked, eyeing Gavin and Nines with a degree of discomfort in her expression.

Connor scowled at her. “Do not encourage him, please,” he scolded lightly, “no one is shooting each other.”

“That’s _always_ reassuring to hear,” Fowler’s loud and commanding voice rang across the bullpen. The man was stood outside his office, a displeased expression on his face and he gazed upon his precinct. “Anderson, good to see you remember what mornings are! I want you and Connor in my office – now!”

Hank rolled his eyes, pushing himself away from his desk with a dark mutter under his breath.

Connor merely shook his head and followed suit, but not before he sent Tina one last rebuking glare. Tina mourned the loss of extra mediators at her disposal as she refocused her attention onto Gavin and Nines. She ended up spending the night at Gavin’s, not trusting the sulking man to do something stupid when left to his own devices.

Like hooking up with an ex.

Or trying to contact Eli.

Shuddering, Tina was glad that she had confiscated his phone, but her heart ached at the memory of Gavin’s sad face, covered in cats, bemoaning the fact that he was destined to die alone.

However, as she watched Gavin and Nines gazing into each other’s eyes like a modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet, she had the stunning realisation that Gavin definitely brought this shit upon himself. Tina glanced over to Chris to see if he was seeing what was happening, but the officer was rigidly sitting at his desk, pointedly ignoring the world around him.

Tina sighed and crossed her arms, her gaze skittering back to the world’s worst star-crossed lovers.

She cleared her throat sharply.

Nines’ body jolted, his LED spinning yellow as he remembered where he was. He blinked, making a conscious effort to step away from Gavin. The detective, in response, swallowed audibly, ducking his head as he sat up in his chair.

“So… did you need something?” Gavin asked, rubbing the scar on his nose self-consciously.

Nines nodded shortly.

“They found Tamron – the hospital informed me that his parents have permitted us to visit,” the android reported, “Ivrina has seen him – she says he has gotten over the initial shock and is currently responsive.”

Gavin’s wildly thudding pulse roared in his ears; Tamron’s green eyes flashed up in his mind. All of his fantasies that revolved around incredibly, and unfairly, attractive androids fled his mind – now, all he could focus on were the fantasies that involved closing this long-ass case for good, and tossing Marco’s goddamn ass into prison.

Fucking _finally_ , he was getting a break.

“Fuck yeah,” Gavin grinned, his heart skipping a beat when Nines returned his smile, “let’s head out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nines: i think i like gavin  
> hank: your taste is questionable at best but fuck it, tell him  
> hank: pretty sure he likes you too  
> nines: hmmm. sounds like a lie, but okay
> 
> gavin: i think i like nines  
> tina: yas gurl, get it  
> chris: i am so shocked, this is such a surprise, i never would have guessed  
> tina: tell him, tell him, tell him  
> gavin: omg, he’d never like me, i’m destined to die alone
> 
> connor: *stares at the camera like he’s on the office*


	2. and so it goes

**CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF MICHIGAN**  
**WEDNESDAY, 8.47AM**

“Marcie is a goddamn bitch – Lorelai never should’ve moved in with her.”

“Detective, I don’t understand why you’re telling me this,” Nines sighed, his LED spinning yellow as he stretched out his legs in front of him. They had been sitting in the hospital’s waiting room for forty-eight minutes.

Clearly, that was enough time for Gavin to hunt down the remote control to the television. He had flicked through channels impatiently until he landed on the Real House Androids of LA. Gavin had asked if Nines found the programme offensive, to which Nines resolutely refused to dignify such a question with an answer.

“Jesus – I hate Marcie so goddamn much.”

“You have said that five times already.”

“Yeah, well,” Gavin shrugged, “I’m hoping at some point, she’ll end up hearing me and stop making so many stupid fucking decisions.”

Nines arched a brow.

The detective huffed upon seeing it and sat up, flinging a hand in front of him, gesturing to the television with a scowl.

“Listen,” he began shortly, “Marcie is the reason why karma exists – two months ago, she was Lorelai’s best friend, her shoulder to cry on, her fucking rock. Then she fucking sleeps with Lorelai’s fucking brother, André? Who’s got a fucking girlfriend? Dick move, man. She’s the kinda person who would buy you a goddamn birthday cake and then stab you in the fucking throat with the knife she brought to cut it up.”

Nines cocked his head, glancing up at the screen before them.

Marcie, a red-haired android with freckles and a penchant for oversized necklaces, was pouring her glass of champagne over Lorelai, a blonde with piercings in her cheeks and a snake tattoo around her left arm. Ten minutes previously, they had been curled up around each other, loudly screaming that they were soulmates. Nines couldn’t understand why they were acting so… illogically. Androids were designed to think strategically, even the more rudimentary models.

To see them acting in such an uncivilised manner… it unnerved him.

“I see,” Nines observed dryly, “do you typically derive joy from viewing androids being mocked in this manner?”

Gavin blinked at him and then sighed deeply, throwing his head back as he switched the channel.

A chorus of disappointed moans echoed around them.

“Holy shit Nines,” Gavin muttered, sitting up flick through the channels, “you’ve managed to piss off a whole room in one go. I haven’t even managed that.”

“Highly doubtful,” Nines replied, flicking a glare over his shoulder at the rest of the waiting room. As expected, they were cowed into silence, although one old lady persisted in clucking her tongue at him, “also, I don’t care.”

“Fuck you, I’ve never pissed off—oh my god, it’s Brooklyn 99. Holy shit, it’s the Safe House episode too,” Gavin gasped, flinging the remote onto the chair beside him as he leaned forward eagerly. “This is the shit that made me want to be a cop.”

Nines furrowed his brows, glancing between Gavin and the television with a degree of concern. The detective’s eyes had lit up, a small smile on his lips as he avidly watched the screen. He seemed to be mouthing along with the show, a faint blush on his cheeks as the character Jake Peralta began listing off Nicolas Cage movies. Nines observed the many signs that indicated Gavin’s attraction to the character – once again, his mind flicked back to yesterday evening, with Connor and Hank.

They had implied multiple times that Nines liked the detective on an unprofessional level – though he had, eventually, come around to the idea that he had become endeared to Gavin, Nines knew that there was no point in pursuing a relationship with the man.

Judging by the Jake-character on the show, Nines was not Gavin’s type.

Gavin’s type appeared to be sardonic, quick-witted, fun and… his type definitely had to be _human_ too.

Nines knew his LED was flicking yellow – he hacked into it and forced the colour to remain blue. He folded his arms and silently watched the show, not understanding why the characters were demonstrating such poor levels of judgement and professionalism.

The android frowned.

“This is not an accurate representation in the slighte—”

“Nines, if you try to ruin Brooklyn 99 for me, I swear to fucking go—”

“Detective Reed? Agent Nines?” a nurse with a clipboard called out dryly as he marched into the waiting room. Gavin stood immediately with Nines immediately following his lead. The nurse was a young man with an incredibly unimpressed expression on his face – his nametag said Ashley and he had a pair of dark green eyes. “Please follow me. Also, remember that you are in a hospital, so watch your language. Thank you.”

Gavin bit his lip and nodded shortly; Nines could tell he was restraining himself from saying something utterly unnecessary. He would applaud the detective for showing some progression, but he didn’t want Gavin to think that he _cared_ about what he did.

“Yeah, got it,” Gavin muttered as he scratched at his nose, following the nurse quickly.

“Tamron Kyle is ready to see you – his parents are in his room,” the nurse, Ashley, explained as he walked briskly down the corridor, “he’s been rather responsive and alert. Ivrina, the therapist send by New Jericho, has mentioned that he does not enjoy being questioned when his parents are present. Tamron also does not enjoy being touched without being alerted first, so bear this in mind when speaking with him.”

“Of course,” Nines answered primly, “we are professionals.”

He exchanged a wry look with Gavin, who in turn appeared to be biting back a grin.

HE HAS AN INSIDE JOKE WITH GAVIN REED

His thirium pump stuttered in his chest as the words flowed across his HUD – his steady stride faltered slightly, and Nines’ gaze skittered to Gavin to see if the detective had noticed. Fortunately, Gavin had brought out his tablet and was flicking through his case notes. Blinking the words away, Nines shook his head and focused on what Nurse Ashley was saying.

“—am not at liberty to discuss Aurelia Hampton; you will have to speak to Ivrina herself,” Ashley stated firmly, stopping abruptly outside a private room. He knocked out the door gently – shockingly, his stern expression melted away into a soft smile when Tamron’s mother opened the door, “please pardon the interruption, but Detective Reed and Agent Nines are here.”

Tamron’s mother blinked in response – Nines noted that her eyes were the same shade of green as child’s – her gaze shifting from the nurse to Gavin. She seemed to recognise him as she gasped excitedly, flinging the door open so she could rush out and wrap her arms around him.

“You found Tammy!” she cried, hugging Gavin’s stiff body to her, not seeming to mind that he wasn’t reciprocating, “I knew you would! Thank you, thank you!”

“S’no problem,” Gavin choked out, his face flushing as she stepped back, “um, Nines… this is Bianca Kyle, Tamron’s mother. Bianca, this is my partner, Agent Nines of the FBI.”

Nines nodded to her.

“Pleasure to meet you,” he said blandly, ignoring the proud smirk Gavin shot him.

Bianca Kyle wrung her hands nervously as she glanced up at the android. Her wedding ring glinted in the harsh lighting of the hospital’s hallway – Nines scanned her closely. She was a human who worked as an air steward; she had been married to her husband for five years and they were unable to have children. As such, they bought an android child two years ago after failing to pass the adoption agency’s strict application process. From how she was acting, she seemed to genuinely adore Tamron, despite his deviancy.

Nines cocked his head as he processed this new data.

Humans became attached to the strangest things… and so easily as well; sentiment was such an alien concept to him. Logically, Nines knew that he wouldn’t feel such a thing due to being immune to deviancy, but the mere notion of it puzzled him.

How could a being possibly get so attached to another thing so intimately?

“Sorry, he’s not usually this wei— oh fuck it, yeah, he’s always this weird, I ain’t gonna lie.”

Nines hummed.

Maybe sentiment wasn’t _that_ alien a concept.

“Apologies,” he uttered haltingly, glancing past Bianca to see her husband hovering by the open door, “Mister Kyle, I presume. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Charles Kyle, the owner of a reputable art gallery, was shorter than his wife and had an incredibly expressive face. He appeared exhausted, yet incredibly relieved – his eyes were bloodshot, but his lips were stretched into a broad smile. Nines noted that he too, appeared to adore his android child.

Nines wondered how long it would last.

Statistically, 64% of android children were abandoned or returned when the family grew tired of them, the number only increasing after the revolution. Android children adapted to deviancy quicker than their adult counterparts, but Nines knew it was only a matter of time before they struggled too.

They would be stuck in the body of a child forever – it sounded horrifically claustrophobic and restrictive. For some reason, the mere thought left Nines’ body rigid and tight; his joints had ceased up and a steady flow of static began to fill his HUD.

This was a strange reaction to such an inconsequential line of thought…

Nines tried to frown, but his facial programming wasn’t operating as it should and all he could feel was his thirium pump, beating furiously to fix the inoperable biocomponents in his body.

He wondered if Tamron would feel this trapped one day – his child-like body at war with his grown mind, trapped and enclosed, unable to E̵S̴C̸A̴P̸E̶ A̷̭͌N̴̫͝D̵̮̏ ̶̬̑L̴̜͌E̶̙͆A̸̩V̴͈͝Ȅ̸͍ ̴͎A̶͍̽N̷͜͝Ḓ̵͋ ̸̟̔Ń̵̰̙̿͝O̵̼̞̽̎̄̕͝ ̵̢̩͈̄̎̊̓͝F̸͎͕̆͠ͅR̵͍̙͍͑͌̇̚ͅE̶̲͈͉͍̚E̵̪̳̹̯̒D̵͚̈́͝Ö̸̻̟̫͉́̿̓̈M̵̯̦͍̽̋́̅ ̷̻̠̯̟͙̈̓̾J̴̪͙͇͖̝̊͐̏̿͆Ü̶̼̓̍̂S̸̢̯͈̍͘ͅT̴̰̠̗̔͋ ̵̺͔̤̝̒E̴̢̡͕̔̀̇N̶͔͗̈́̐C̷̻͊A̷̡̧̫̤̭̔͗̀̕͝Š̷̯̲̌͂͘Ế̸̟̙̯̞͖̆̐̉D̸̘̭̗̣͈̽̓̉͗͝ ̵̲̩̺̐̇͛͝A̵̬̦͈̝̲͇̮̝͝Ñ̸̡̛̰̤͕̲̫͇̤̤̏͑̓͗D̸̨̡̟̖͙̥̔͐̆͛̂̍͗͝ ̸̫̿̈̍̒͒̕͜Ṵ̸̡͍͚̫̥͖̰̺͋͆̔̈̄̃̚N̶̛̺̓̆A̷̮̥̖͐͆̑B̷̡̛̛̫̲͖̼̣̼̣̝̯͂̈̒̓͝͝ͅḶ̶̨͇̼̗́͑͐Ę̷̢̨̺̪͊̈́̏̄̂͋̒͑͋ ̶̢̡̱͉̻͎̠͈̞̤͌̋̎̍ͅT̷̨̢̧̮̰̱̮͎̺̔͂̈́͆̔́̿̈́̉O̷͕̳̩͕̬̳̰̹͌̇̈̐̋̅͋̎͘͘ͅ ̶̨̛͕͈̣͚̟̆̇͝M̷̧̱̗̮̽̊͛͛͠Ǫ̵̼̠̱͈́̓̋̈́͌̾̑̓̎̃ͅV̶̧̥̫̣͎͓̳̐͜ͅË̷̦̘̬̤̀̾̌͑͌͑̌ͅ ̶̼͎͕͇̤̥͒̋̈́̀́̃͑͑̕͜A̷̢̳̰͈͇̱̲͂̉̇͘N̶̢̝͓̫̦̥̦͊̈́̉̿͌̋̏̋̈́̕Ḓ̸̜̇͗̈́̓͘ —

“—you okay? Hey, robo-cop, I’m talkin’ to you!” a sharp voice crashed through the static in Nines’ mind.

Nines blinked, his coding slowly adapting to the onslaught of corrupt data.

“I,” he paused, waiting for the static to leave his vision, “apologise. I was… in the middle of a routine scan.” Gavin scoffed disbelievingly – Nines ignored him and forced himself to look at Bianca and Charles Kyle. “Nurse Ashley mentioned we could speak to your son? May we ask him a few questions now?”

There was a beat of silence – Tamron’s parents peered at Gavin, concern clear in their eyes.

Gavin simply scoffed and shook his head.

“And you say you’re a professional,” he muttered, a degree of disgust in his tone. It took Nines a while to realise that Gavin was only pretending to be irritated – it was cleverly disguising the concern that the detective felt. “Bianca and Charlie already gave us the go ahead, Jesus.”

Nines nodded shortly.

“Thank you,” he murmured, still feeling off-kilter as the last of static disappeared from his vision.

Bianca shot him a shaky smile. “I-It’s no problem,” she insisted, wrapping her arms around herself, her husband leaning against her comfortingly, “he says he doesn’t remember much. Ivrina, the nice Jericho lady? She said that he’s locked his memories away? Or tried to delete them? I’m not entirely sure, it was a lot of… ah, android jargon. Sorry, you’ll have to speak with her for the details.”

“Just keep the questions light, please?” Charles stated firmly, his brown eyes disconcertingly focused on Nines’ face, “he’s been through a lot and we’ve just got him back. Ask him what you need to, but don’t upset him.”

Nines cocked his head – strangely, he felt as if he was being threatened.

How interesting. This silly little human with no muscle mass to speak of was subtly threatening him; it wasn’t as if Nines had never been threatened before – Gavin promised to kick his ass on a daily basis – but this was different.

This was… this was said with _intent_. Normally, when Nines was getting threatened, it was said by men and women who were being arrested – it was said out of fear, desperation or anger. When Gavin threatened him, his words were jesting and sly… a flirtatious promise by a man who had no sense of self-preservation.

This threat?

This threat had _meaning_ and _weight_. Nines knew that Charles Kyle would truly find a way to hurt him, should he upset his son.

How… fascinating.

Gavin cleared his throat, gaining the attention of group.

“You know, minors normally require adults to be in the room when being questioned,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. Bianca smiled softly at him. “I mean, if you’re that worried, you cou—"

“Tammy’s requested that we wait outside,” Bianca interjected, “we were both… a little reluctant in leaving the room when he gets questioned, but Ivrina mentioned that Tammy needed his voice to be listened to, like he has autonomy again? He’s had his requests ignored and disrespected for so long so… we thought we could give him this.”

“We _will_ be outside though,” Charles stated, his tone leaving no room for argument, “just in case.”

“Fair enough,” Gavin nodded, before he glanced over to Nines with an arched brow. “Shall we?”

“We shall,” Nines replied, stepping neatly aside to allow Bianca and Charles the space to leave Tamron’s room. “We will let you know if your presence is required.”

“You better.”

“Thank you.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and dragged Nines into Tamron’s waiting room, sending the parents a grateful nod before he closed the door. The detective’s annoyance radiated from his body – Nines merely took it in stride and turned away, allowing Gavin some space to calm down before they questioned—

Oh.

The android child was… smaller than he anticipated.

Tamron Kyle looked exactly like his photo, yet there was a sheen of something… haunted in his eyes. His rich green eyes that peered up at the newcomers curiously. His hair was thick and messy, the colour a soft shade of brown. His body was slight, typical of the YK500 model, and his LED had been removed. He was tucked under a mound of blankets, his thin arms wrapped around a threadbare teddy – Tamron’s little fingers were playing with a loose thread that connected the teddy’s nose to its face.

Nines felt his pump stutter – he knew android children were small, just not… _this_ small.

“Hey kiddo,” Gavin drawled, appearing to have calmed himself enough to return to his disarmingly charming self, “your parents tell you who we are?”

The detective positioned himself at the foot of Tamron’s bed – he was providing enough space so that the child didn’t feel trapped or crowded, but he was close enough to keep an eye on the child’s body language.

Clever.

Tamron nodded. “You’re cops,” he said simply, his eyes rapidly flickering between Nines and Gavin. He was nervous, clearly, but not afraid. “You’re here to ask me stuff, right?”

“Exactly kid,” Gavin confirmed with an easy smile, “nothing too difficult, just the basics, okay?”

“Um, okay,” Tamron uttered, shooting Gavin a shaky, ruthful smile.

“Cool,” the detective said, shooting Nines a warning glance when the android loomed too close to the child. Nines received the message and stepped away from the bed, hands clasped behind his back as Gavin took the lead. “So, why don’t we start nice and easy… do you remember being in the park that day? When the bad guys took you?”

Tamron nodded. “I was meeting my friends. My mama said I could ‘cause I did all more chores that day, so I was gonna see my friends.” Tamron’s stress levels remained steady as the child turned to tuck the teddy into the bed beside him. Gavin watched, his lips quirking up in a soft smile.

“Were your friends there?” he asked, keeping his voice low and gentle.

Tamron shook his head, a sad frown on his face.

“Um, I musta been early,” he replied, ”‘cause they weren’t there. My daddy is so mad, he says I can’t see them anymore ‘cause if they were there, then, then, then maybe I wouldn’t’ve been taken. I miss them. Could you tell my daddy to let them see me, ‘cause I still have Henry’s game and, and, and I need to give it back.”

Gavin smirked. “Sure kid. Nines, make a note of that,” he instructed, sending Tamron a wink when Nines imitated a heavy sigh.

“You’re weird,” the child giggled, snorting softly when Gavin shot him an exaggerated affronted look.

“Indeed, that’s what I’ve been telling him,” Nines said, speaking for the first time since he entered the room. He took his cues from Gavin, keeping his voice soft and steady to avoid startling the younger android in the room.

Tamron still jumped, flicking Nines a wary look.

“Pfft, so says the robot that says shit like ‘lest we get caught’ and ‘indubitably so’,” Gavin scoffed, doing an awful imitation of Nines’ voice. Tamron gasped, his eyes wide as he stared at the detective.

“You swore,” he said, slightly shocked, “I didn’t know cops could swear! Daddy said, um, that only people with half a brain swore!”

Nines’ facial programming twitched – he knew that if he could, he would be laughing right now.

“Unfortunately, we cannot discriminate when hiring officers – so even those with half a brain can still be appointed,” Nines commented, before nodding towards Gavin, “hence his employment.”

Gavin flipped him off.

‘Suck my dick,’ he mouthed to the android.

“Apologies, I have been advised against putting small things in my mouth,” Nines replied, speaking aloud. Gavin flushed when Tamron furrowed his brows, confused.

“Wha—” the child began, but Gavin’s panic kicked in.

“So, kiddo!” he interrupted sharply, wincing when the child jumped, “shit, sorry. Sorry, fuck—please don’t tell your dad—”

“—I won’t, but you really are weird—”

“—yeah, I got that,” Gavin sighed, wiping a hand across his face, “listen, that day at the park, do you remember who took you?”

The mood instantly dropped, alongside Tamron’s sweet smile.

Gavin cursed himself for ruining the atmosphere, but he only had a certain amount of time before Charles became impatient and charged in to investigate what was taking so long.

“Um… no, I don’t. The bad people did… something to my head. That Ivrina lady said I can’t remember my memories because they’ve been… um, locked away?” Tamron explained hesitantly, his little face screwed up with confusion as he tried to remember what Ivrina had told him. “I don’t know where they put them though.”

Gavin sighed inaudibly, drumming his fingers along the bedframe as he began to think. If Marco’s guys managed to ‘lock’ Tamron’s memories away, then that had to mean… _shit_. Were androids working with Marco?

Fuck.

No wonder he couldn’t find any evidence.

“So, you can’t remember anything, huh?” Gavin asked.

Tamron shook his head. “It goes all… red and blurry. I remember sitting on the swing but nothing after that. Sometimes, if I think hard enough, I can remember being in a car and a room, but I don’t know anything else.”

Gavin nodded and shifted an inquiring glance to Nines.

The android’s LED span yellow slowly as he observed the child – his eyes were oddly glazed over, as if he was deep in thought. He seemed to arrive at a conclusion, as the android nodded to himself, a determined expression spreading across his face.

Gavin felt a nervous pit grow in his stomach.

“I could probe your memory,” the agent suggested, ignoring Gavin’s horrified expression. Fear flickered across Tamron’s face, his fingers grasping at the blankets pooled around his body, “the technical term is ‘interfacing’ – you may have seen other androids do it?”

“Not really. Um, will it hurt?” Tamron asked, glancing down nervously.

Nines tilted his head. “Not physically – it will involve me ‘unlocking’ the memories you can’t access anymore. It sounds as if they haven’t deleted them, so there may be a chance I will be able to view them. You will see flashes of your memories, but hopefully nothing too traumatising.”

Gavin winced at the awful phrasing.

Christ – privately, Gavin had thought Tamron seemed too calm for what he had been through. Now, knowing that his memories had been ‘locked away’, it made more sense. Still, it begged the question – why lock the memories away, when you could just delete them?

Also, was it worth the risk of scarring a young child for the sake of an investigation?

 _Also_ , also… was it worth the risk of gaining Charles Kyle’s ire, and possibly Ivrina’s too?

Gavin drummed his fingers sporadically along the bedframe, suddenly unsure of what choices to make and what to prioritise. Looking at his android partner, it appeared as if Nines wasn’t plagued by the same worries that tormented him.

Lucky bastard.

“Oh,” Tamron said, biting his lip as he glanced up at Nines, “um… I don’t know… “

“You will be fine,” Nines assured, his tone gentle but firm, “should you wish for me to stop, just let me know. I will cut the connection instantly.”

“Want me to grab your mom?” Gavin offered.

Tamron shook his head. “No, thank you. I don’t want her to… know the bad things,” he said politely.

Nines opened his mouth to inform the child that she probably already knew the bad things but was cut off by a sharp cough from Gavin. He looked over to his partner, arching a brow at the scolding glare he was receiving.

No doubt the detective was worried about upsetting the child and angering Charles Kyle – understandable, given the ramifications.

Nines closed his mouth and nodded shortly.

Gavin rolled his eyes and turned back to Tamron.

“No problem kid,” he promised softly, “whatever you want.”

Tamron sent him a small smile; then, with a small amount of hesitation, he held up his skinny arm and allowed his synthetic skin to fade away, his white chassis stark against his dark skin. Nines gently took Tamron’s hand into his and clasped it firmly.

“Wow,” Tamron gasped, gazing down as Nines revealed his smoky-grey chassis, “you… are you a special android?”

Gavin grinned at the clueless look on Nines’ face.

“He sure is kid,” Gavin commented, grinning widely when Nines peered over his shoulder with an unimpressed expression.

“I knew it,” Tamron said excitedly, his fingers wiggling in Nines’ grip, “are you like a superhero? Like, like Batman? For androids? ‘Cause I’ve read lots of Batman comics, he’s pretty cool, but I kinda like it when he works with Green Arrow? Do you like Green Arrow? I like his bow, I asked my mama for archery lessons and she said when I was older, I could have a go, which is weird because… um, well, I’m not gonna get older, but that made her sad, so I haven’t asked her again.”

Gavin went through a whole rollercoaster of emotions – his expression began with an indulgent smile, then ended with a sad pout, a deep crease forming between his brows as he quietly listened to Tamron’s innocent chatter.

Nines resolutely resisted thinking about Tamron being trapped in his body, his coding staunchly protecting him from another onslaught of static and emotions.

“But, um, you must be cooler than Batman, ‘cause you’re an android, right? So, like, um, can you do cool stuff? Like fly, or see in the dark? Can you turn invisible?” Tamron asked, his words flying out of his mouth like spitfire.

Nines craned his head around, giving Gavin a look – it was probably as close to imploring as the android’s facial programming would allow.

“Nah, kid, you got it all wrong,” Gavin piped up, jabbing a thumb in Nines’ direction, “this guy _is_ Batman – why do you think his voice is so growly?”

“I _knew_ it!” Tamron gasped, his eyes wide with awe.

“I am not Batman,” Nines insisted dryly.

“Which is _exactly_ what Bruce Wayne would say,” Gavin chipped in, ignoring Nines’ glare easily.

Tamron giggled and wriggled where he sat, his face a lot brighter than it was a few moments before. Nines seemed aware of the change and realised that Gavin had succeeded in getting the child to calm down and trust them – he was impressed.

“So, are we ready to proceed?” he asked, watching as Tamron’s stress level spiked; it was nowhere near as high as he expected it to reach, so Nines wasn’t too concerned. “I just wish to see who kidnapped you, nothing more. I promise.”

Tamron worried his lip, his gaze drifting past Nines to lock onto the detective beside him.

Whatever he saw seemingly reassured him.

“You promise?” Tamron asked Nines quietly.

“I promise,” Nines repeated firmly.

There was a beat of silence.

“Um, yeah. Yeah, okay,” Tamron conceded, closing his eyes as a soft blue glow began to build between the two hands. Nines was hit with a wave of memories instantly: Tamron had been playing in a park when he had been approached by… two men, no, two _androids_ had kidnapped him, hacking into nearby cameras to alter the footage. Made sense given there was no evidence at the scene. Still, it begged the question, why were two androids working with humans in such a vile crime? To steal and sell their own kind?

Perhaps they had not gone deviant yet?

Surely that was impossible – the virus had spread like wildfire; all androids were deviant bar himself. Perhaps they were being threatened, or bribed? Of course, Nines could not be so naïve; androids could feel the whole spectrum of emotions, including the more malicious ones.

If humans were capable of such violent and atrocious acts, surely it couldn’t be out of the question to assume that androids were also able of carrying out such crimes?

It was then that Nines made a mistake – he only wanted to see the initial kidnapping, but he spent too long deliberating on the reasoning behind the motive of the androids and ended up digging deeper than he intended.

Memories began flashing vividly, of Tamron screaming for his mother, of being tied up, or getting locked in dark rooms with no one to talk to for days, of being touched and hurt and—

“Oh _fuck_!”

Tamron screamed and wrenched Nines’ hand away from him, a loud snap piercing through the air. Gavin quickly yanked Nines away from the child, ensuring that Tamron wasn’t being crowded by two grown men. A weighted silence fell upon the three of them, only to be broken when Tamron’s parents rushed in, panicked from hearing their son’s terrified cry.

“Oh shit,” Gavin muttered, eyeing Nines’ fingers. Two of them had been snapped back cleanly – the detective was horrified by how strong the child was. He quickly stepped away from the bed, allowing Bianca and Charles to cloister around their child – Bianca cooed and petted at Tamron in the hopes of calming him down, whilst Charles alternated between hushing his son and cursing darkly under his breath.

Whilst they were preoccupied, Gavin grabbed Nines by the collar and yanked him outside, giving the family some privacy and putting some space between Tamron’s angry father and Gavin’s partner.

Also, it gave him the chance to swear openly.

“Fuck, fuck, your fingers, fuck,” he chanted, running a hand through his hair nervously, “is this the kinda shit we’ll get billed for? Am I gonna get billed for this shit? Can I even fuckin’ ask that? Is that offensive now?”

“Detective,” Nines said with a sigh, inspecting his fingers curiously.

“It’s okay, we can get through this,” Gavin said encouragingly, hovering over Nines’ shoulder as he peered down at the broken fingers, cradled in Nines’ other hand, “we can get through this. I mean, we’re already in a hospital so we can get this fixed, yeah?”

“Detective,” Nines said firmly, scanning the damage with a critical eye, “this is not a ‘we-type’ situation. Please, calm yourself.”

Then, in one swift moment, Nines snapped the fingers off and then reattached them.

Gavin gaped, horrified.

“I can’t fucking believe,” he hissed, squinting angrily at the android, “you just made me see that with my own two eyes.”

Nines flexed his fingers, allowing the digits to sync up to his central processing unit once more. He was absently aware of Gavin spitting curses at him – this was a standard situation for them, so Nines found it easy to ignore the vitriol aimed at his being. Instead, he focused on what he had seen in Tamron’s mind.

There were two androids working with Marco – an TR400 model and, unusually, an EM400 model. Nines surmised that the latter would have been utilised to gain the children’s trust, whereas the former would have been used for its strength to easily carry the child away to Jordi Peters’s truck. Why on earth would they work with Marco? The EM400 model especially was created to dote on children – they had a special programming that rendered them incapable of harming a child.

Nines wondered if they were deviant – his LED span slowly as he pieced together the puzzle; he didn’t have all the pieces yet, and as such, he found himself at a loss.

“Gavin, I saw—”

“No, no, fuck that,” Gavin interrupted sharply, holding up a hand with a deep scowl, “you don’t get to tell me about the goddamn case when your fucking fingers just got snapped the fuck off—”

“—two androids apprehending the child. Your concern is endearing, but please look at the bigger picture,” Nines stated, lifting a brow in response to the detective’s ire, “Marco has somehow convinced two androids to assist him in carrying out violent acts against their own kind. We need to find out where they are and—”

“Time out,” Gavin snapped out suddenly, his grey eyes blazing with frustration and – Nines blinked, his pump stuttering in his chest – _fear_. “You just got your fingers snapped off by a goddamn kid and… what the fuck did you do to him anyway? He was fine and then he just— fuck, Nines, what the _fuck_ did you _do_?”

Nines arched a brow impassively.

“We interfaced,” he explained, not understanding why his thirium pump was operating at a subpar level and why messages about crashing biocomponents were flashing in his HUD, “as I mentioned before, I only wanted to see the initial kidnapping – we did not need to see anything else, but I… I left the connection open for too long and… I saw more than I intended. I must have unlocked several repressed memories for the victim, hence his reaction.”

Gavin blanched, his body moving away from Nines on shaking limbs.

Nines didn’t understand why, but his arms jolted automatically towards the detective, as to latch onto him and prevent him from widening the distance between them any further.

“Okay,” Gavin muttered, running a hand through his hair “fucking… _okay_. So, several goddamn things, okay? Number one, if this fucks up our investigation, I’m kicking your ass—”

“—an impossible feat, I’m sure—”

“—you really do not get to interrupt me right now,” Gavin hissed darkly. Nines blinked at the detective’s cold aura – it was as if the man couldn’t stomach being around him and for some reason, Nines found that he did not like that thought at all. “Secondly, the victim’s name is Tamron, get it fucking right?”

“Apologies,” Nines uttered, feeling B̶̟̣̖͉̺̹̅̈́̆͐͂͂͝Ḙ̸̡̛͐́̔̂̎̚͠W̵̱̰̜̭̜̏̎̾̾͑͑͋͆̃̇͒I̴̲̖͓̳͎̎͋Ḻ̶̨̢̜͎̞̺͑͋͋ͅD̶̨̰̙̱̼̙̰̂̈́̌͊Ẻ̵̡̲͚̘̻̞͉̹̔̈́R̷̨͙̖̳͙̳̜̓̑̍̈́̎̏͠Ȩ̶̢̢̡͔͍̤̟̃̇͌͒̂̄͗̌̕Ḑ̴͉̭̠͈̝̼̖̑̏̑̔͝͠ ̸̡̟̗͚̹͚̌̎̑͐̌͛̚ͅ and C̶̨̡̦͉̩̳̘͕͆͘͜͜͝O̴̲̜͊̂̏̓̄̇͘̚͘ͅN̴̛̞͔̘̖͎͙̭̘̯͈̟̆̾͜F̴͎̤͓̳͔͙̱̲͓̭̱̍͛̓̿̍̀̈́̉͘͘̚͠Ṹ̷͇̥͚̼̰̻̅͘͝S̶̢̡̨̜͎̯̫̣͇̳̗̊̔̑̍̃̅̀̍̃̕͠E̸̢̩̱̯͋̏̀͐͌͐̈́͆̒͘̚D̸̢̧̤̹̥̙͉̬̭̤͎̓̃̎͜ͅ and A̵̢͔̘̹̝͕̤̥̹̤͚̩͕͎̲̮̅̏̂̔̆͂̾͛̇̍̏̐͌͗͊͜N̷̢̡̧̡̠̺̺̰̥̙̼̫͔̝̰͓̒͗G̶̡̧̧̢̧͎͙̞̙̲̭͉̱̮̮̙͓͕̋̔͆̾͜Ŕ̵̦̔̑̒̈́̍̽̇̆Ỵ̸̣̼͕͔͎̤̫̬̀̈́͗̈́̇͗̑̚͜͠ and— he shook his head, aware that his coding was already acclimatising to the new feelings and removing them instantly from his being. Once Connor had pointed it out to him, Nines found that he could _feel_ his software changing constantly – always adapting and erasing anything that could make him deviant.

Except Gavin.

He could never erase Gavin.

“You don’t fucking apologise to _me_ ,” Gavin said simply, shoving his hands into his pockets, “and finally? This was an _accident_ , clearly a fucking accident – so… don’t let it happen again. ‘Cause if this ruins my goddamn investigation, I will kick the shit outta you. Alright?”

“It will not,” Nines promised, his tone boarding on earnest.

Gavin watched him carefully – the android was back to staring at his hand, examining the fingers with narrowed eyes. The detective sighed and checked his watch – they had been at the hospital for nearly two hours now; he had to go back and report to Fowler, then he had to contact Ivrina… god, he was gonna get so much shit for what happened with Tamron. Goddamn, never mind Marco’s fucking lawyer; Charles Kyle was going to fucking _destroy_ him.

Tapping his foot, he glanced back up at Nines, highly aware that the android’s LED was slowly spinning yellow. Gavin didn’t have much experience with androids and their LEDs – most androids he met now had them removed. The only android Gavin knew who had kept their spinning nightlight was Connor, and he had found that the light often changed to reflect the android’s mood; a fact which frustrated the android to no end. Blue meant good things, yellow was when he was thinking, or when he was worried, and red…

Well. Red just sucked.

Gavin wondered if Nines’ LED acted as a mood-ring too – he thought back to the last time he saw it flash red and knew that it had to be linked somehow.

“Yo, you're not gonna freak out on me?” Gavin asked warily, neatly stepping aside to allow a group of nurses to sidle past him. They took no notice of the stoic agent and his frustrated detective partner and briskly carried on striding down the hallway.

Nines finally dragged his gaze away from his hand and shot Gavin a perplexed look.

“Why would I… ah, ‘freak’ out?” he asked, arching a brow.

Once again, Gavin marvelled at how expressive the machine was.

He shrugged in answer to Nines’ question. “Because Connor freaks out?” he supplied, frowning at the irritated expression that appeared on Nines’ sharp feature. “Whenever he makes a mistake, he beats himself up - last time, Hank had to take him outta the bullpen, ‘cause he was having a meltdown over some serial killer they were pursuing.”

Nines nodded knowingly. “The Puppeteer, yes. It's why the FBI stepped in - his mistake could have cost your precinct the entire investigation.”

Gavin bared his teeth, hackles raised unhappily at Nines’ tone.

“Yeah, and your mistake could have us getting sued, or worse,” Gavin bit out pointedly, “any evidence we get from him could be considered unethically gained and get thrown out if we manage to take Marco to court, fuck!”

Nines appeared taken aback.

“I am aware of the consequences of my actions, I just did not reali—”

“Nah, you just think you're some kinda untouchable Terminator when, spoiler alert, you're just as defective as the rest of us,” Gavin interrupted, his grey eyes hard.

“I am not defective,” Nines said quickly, his yellow LED spinning quickly.

“Then why'd ya make a mistake?” Gavin asked, crossing his arms with an arched brow.

“It was an oversight. One that won't be repeated,” Nines affirmed.

Gavin hummed disbelievingly. For someone who doggedly argued against any implications of his deviancy, Nines sure was an emotional piece of metal. The android’s face was twisted downwards unhappily, his eyes bright with displeasure. Even without his nightlight, Gavin could still see how upset Nines was with the whole situation.

The android seemingly forced himself to calm down as his LED slowly faded back to a calm blue.

“Detective,” he began, his voice as cold and toneless as ever, “I would appreciate it if you were to cease comparing me to my successor, we are not the equal and we do not operate in the same manner.”

Blinking, Gavin scoffed at the cold manner the android had suddenly adopted.

“What the fuck did I tell you – cut it out with the dick comments about Connor,” he instructed.

Nines fists clenched tightly.

“I don’t understand why you’re suddenly so protective of RK800,” Nines said, his LED flickering red for a moment. “From what I heard, you never even liked him. Regardless, I wasn't making a disparaging comment… it was merely a statement: we aren't the same, literally. He is deviant, I am not. Please, do not try and compare us when our experiences are completely different.”

“Oh,” Gavin said, looking suitably mollified, “well… you're still a dick.”

Nines rolled his eyes.

“Then I suppose we truly suit one another—”

Gavin flushed, choking on his saliva.

“—as partners,” Nines finished, arching a brow as Gavin thumped his own chest. “Please, do not die. It would be incredibly embarrassing for everyone involved if I have to return to the precinct and inform them of your death via saliva.”

“Please stop talking,” Gavin gasped, rubbing at his heated cheeks shamefully. He glanced at the room behind Nines and sighed heavily. “Fuck it – let’s head out before Charles comes storming out and dismantles the shit outta you. I’ll send Ivrina a message to let her know what’s wha—”

“I’ve already sent her an update,” Nines informed Gavin, cocking his head to the side as his LED span quickly, “she does not seem happy… in fact, her response is rather,” he paused, frowning slightly, “explicit.”

Gavin groaned, a sharp pain growing in his head as he imagined the kind of report that Nines must have written for Ivrina. Instead of trying to tackle the task of educating Nines on the beauty of diplomacy, he turned on his heel and started to march down the corridor. He had to get back to precinct and update Fowler on the situation before Ivrina got to him first.

This kinda fuckery was the exact sort of bullshit that would get him kicked off his case – and Gavin had _never_ been kicked off a case before.

He certainly wasn’t going to let some pretty boy android ruin his winning streak now.

“Fuck, what the fuck is wrong with me,” Gavin muttered under his breath, feeling exhausted from the weight of the case, his questionable taste in men, and the fact that the last time he had slept for longer than three hours was eight days ago. Shit, he could hear Tina cackling at him now.

However, no matter his feelings toward Nines, Gavin had his priorities and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time he had to put aside a relationship in order to succeed in his job. It the same shit, different guy – it was a good job he had his cats, otherwise Gavin would probably be feeling _lonely_ or some stupid shit by now.

Roughly tugging his phone out of his pocket, Gavin shot off a quick text.

_Sent: is fowler in???_

_sister from another mister: Nope, he’s meeting the Commissioner today_

_work dad af: What have you done?_

_Sent: fuck off, I didn’t do dick_

_work dad af: You can’t blame us for jumping to conclusions._

_sister from another mister: Yep, you can’t blame us, you are a dick_

Scowling, Gavin shoved his phone back into his pocket. Nines had managed to catch up to him, matching his stride with ease as they made their way out of the hospital. The back of Gavin’s neck prickled with the proximity – he wondered if Nines was aware of the tense silence between them.

He wondered if the android even gave a shit.

“Detective, please be assured that no matter what happens next, I will endeavour to ensure that my mistake does not cost us the case,” Nines said, causing Gavin to stumble. The detective shot the android a surprised glance, to which Nines just hummed with amusement. “You are quite expressive – especially when upset. I am assuming that it is my mistake that has left you like this.”

Gavin scoffed – of course, the very apex of AI-technology could read him like a goddamn book.

“Whatever,” he replied moodily, navigating through the corridors on autopilot.

Nines opened his mouth but closed it again, unsure as to how to proceed with Gavin in his current state.

“Hey… who's Amanda?” Gavin asked, suddenly realising that, without Connor around and with Nines stubbornly against speaking to the android, this was probably his one chance to get more information without getting into trouble.

Nines blinked at the non sequitur – it was apparent that Gavin did not want to focus on what happened to Tamron and as such, taking advantage of his time away from Connor. Nines internally sighed; why did Connor always come up whenever they were together?

J̷̢̛̉͜E̶͕͝Ä̷̦̹́̎L̸̘̆͒Ò̶͈U̷̬S̴̙͌

J̸̫̩̃͊̕Ẽ̵̞̳̰Á̶̹̗̈́L̴̼͈̄̄͊O̸̘Ŭ̷̡̫̂S̶͎̀͆

J̵̢̜̰͓̖̯͚̮̯̳̪̹̬̖͌̇̈͆͜E̴̡̧͉̻͕̘̩͙̯̲͌͌͒̂̄́̏̾͜͝ͅA̴̢̡̲̻̲̝̳̮̤̻̬͙̔̐̿́̍̆̑̊̚L̷̢̻̥̪͖̖͕̪͓̟͈͆̀͂̎͗͛͐͗̕͝͠͠O̷̘̟͖̞͕̰͈͕̲̽͆̃̃̾̽̂̈̉̒̅̕̕͜Ȗ̷̺̐͆͌́S̴̡̛̘͇͉̯̤̽̇̈́͋̇̋̂̌̚

He was J̶̫͈̠͈̼͖̣̪̰͕̜͉̖̼͈͇̣̳̖̫̻̞͆͆̓͋̔̈́̄̇̇͋̋̇̓̃̎̐̌̾̆̔̍̆̈́̈́́͘ͅḘ̷̢̧̢͇̩̲͈̱̬͔̫̺̞̖͍̰̫̫͓͇̜̗͈͕̅̒͑̒̇̾͐̔̌̿̏͋́̑̈̓̋̚̚̚̕͝͝ͅA̸̛͔̰̙̰̱͈͎̺̣̳͙͕͉̬̦̺̠̗͕͐̊͂͛̅͛̋̈́͋̄͂̈͋͘͜͝L̵̢̧͈̯̘̻͔̜̫͍̭̜͍̹̬̜̮͐͛̓̊̓̋̀̀͝Ǫ̷̛͓͔̲̹̇͒͊͒̽̑͊̐̂̀̚̕͠Ư̵̡̩̰̥͍͈̦̰̘͚̞̏͋͆͌̈͐̏̆̈͊͊̈́͗͐̒̈́̃͊̂̍͆͑̑͊̅͂̚͝͝͠͝S̸̡̮̖̝͚̪̳̼͕̲̣͇̬̗͉̟̪̤͓̠̆̓̍̐͜͝ͅ.

Nines flinched at the onslaught of static and clenched his eyes shut, allowing his coding to fix itself.

YOU DO NOT FEEL

YOU DO NOT FEEL

YOU DO NOT FEEL

YOU DO NOT FEEL

YOU DO NOT FEEL

The red words flooded his vision as his software adapted, erasing all notions of E̵̛͈͕͇̔̇̓̇͠N̴̢̨̨̪̘̘̜̯̗̹̠̖̖͓̻̤̬̲͚͑̽̽̆̋̏́̿͑͘͜V̸̧̛͕̰̮͕͍͚͕̥̪͌̅͒̂̈́̀̀̐͛̓͂̿̿͋̕͘͜͝Ỷ̶͍̹̇͗̈̉̾̽ towards Connor. He tried to blink the words away, conscious that Gavin was awaiting an answer from him.

“Amanda is an AI,” he began slowly, his thirium pump working overtime to eradicate his corrupting code, “she acted as a conduit between RK800 and Cyberlife. She was a... supervisor, of sorts, guiding and observing RK800 on his missions.”

Gavin nodded, a faint crease between his brows.

“So… like a teacher?” he suggested.

“More like a boss,” Nines corrected, shaking his head.

“Huh,” Gavin uttered, waving to the hospital receptionists as they cheerily bade him farewell. Nines frowned – Gavin’s popularity with other androids was utterly perplexing given his history regarding them. “She still around?”

“No, she was deactivated – when Cyberlife and New Jericho collaborated, they considered her… superfluous. RK800 was a deviant and he had Lieutenant Anderson to guide him through life. Amanda was no longer required,” he explained, feeling R̸̙̥͔͓̓̐̓̔̽̽̏̉̕͘͝Ẹ̴̢̮̺̹̼̯̠̭̻̩͇̭͖͕̹̫̫̠̞̺͓̬̻̤͎̟͍̎̔̔̉̓͠L̵̛̥̳̍̃̋̓͋͌̄͐̋́̄̈̾͛̋̈̑̌̉͗̌̓͑̈́̃̊͛͝Į̵͎̘̮̹̟̲̻͓͔̳̒͋́̌̈́̔̽̈̄̉̍̆̈́̀͋́̋̉̿̚͜͠Ę̴̣̥͚͔͙͕̠͓̲̩̺̟͎̻̣̋͐̽̒̎̔̆̐͛͆̾̊͐̚͜͠͝F̸̡̢̙͓̭̪̙͎͔̜̮̠̝͓͚̠̳̱̙̰͍̜̺̙̯͐́̓̆͛͗̿̓̄̄̈́̂̄͊̽̇͝͝ͅ when the red words finally left his vision.

Nines always heard them in Amanda’s voice whenever they appeared – it always left him unsettled.

“What about you – don't you need her? As… as a guide or whatever?” Gavin asked, his tone forcibly casual and light.

“No. I have my boss at the FBI to provide me with guidance and orders. I receive my missions and I have my parameters. I do not require an AI to babysit me,” Nines said, his tone a touch testy. Gavin snorted as they left the building.

“Could’ve fooled me,” he drawled, “c’mon, I’ve got shit to do and no doubt you need to get back to your FBI overlords. Try not to fuck anything else up in the meantime.”

Gavin couldn’t restrain his laughter when Nines all but _growled_ at him.

* * *

**THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**THURSDAY, 7.15AM**

“Hey Nora, when’s Fowler suppose—” Gavin began, hoping to catch the captain early as Fowler had never returned to the bullpen yesterday.

“You don’t get to speak to me,” Nora replied, not breaking her stride as she briskly walked out of the bullpen. Gavin frowned after her. This definitely had to be a record – he had never even spoken to her before and she already hated him.

“My reputation proceeds me,” he said with a deep sigh, drumming his fingers along his table.

“No man,” Chris sighed, dropping a cup of coffee on his desk with a frown on his face, “she overheard you threaten to shove the coffee machine up Nines’ ass last week and decided you were unworthy of anyone’s time, much less hers.”

“It was a fully fucking deserved threat,” Gavin muttered, raising his coffee as a way of thanks.

Chris nodded solemnly. “Yes, but it’s a threat she’s heard you make five times now—”

“—shit, I need to get new material—”

“—so, she probably thinks you have issues,” Chris remarked, “and yes, you need some originality in your threats. It’s just getting… sad at this point.”

Gavin narrowed his eyes at the officer.

“She does _not_ know me well enough to make such accusations,” he said firmly, his lips upturned unhappily.

“Gavin,” Chris stated, leaning against Gavin’s desk with a heavy sigh, “she doesn’t need to know you. You wear your issues on your sleeves – I mean, you practically radiate issues… Kate calls them ‘sad boy pheromones’.”

Chris clasped the back of Gavin’s head with a soft smile and began to ruffle up his hair – Gavin wasn’t quick enough to dodge his hand and was resigned to just accept Chris’ fatherly comfort.

“You are literally stroking the product out of my hair – fucking quit it,” he complained, frowning when his hair began falling into his eyes, “Jesus _dad_ , don’t you have a dumpster to dive in?”

Chris cuffed the back of Gavin’s head when the detective knocked his hand away. “I am all dumpstered out; besides, we caught our perp last night. Got the guy to confess too, when Officer Perkins threatened to tell his mother – apparently he has quite the Oedipus complex,” he smirked, radiating a smug aura. Although it wasn’t a professional move, Fowler didn’t actually mind it when his cops resorted to dirty tactics, so long as it produced results – lucky for him, their tactics _always_ garnered results.

“Lucky you for catching that motherfucker,” Gavin said dryly.

Chris arched a brow. “A Freudian joke at this time in the morning, seriously?” he asked, holding a hand to Gavin’s forehead. “Are you okay? You normally have more inventive content than this – you’re just disappointing me right now.”

Gavin hummed under his hand, leaning into his cool touch.

“I think this case is getting to me,” he admitted softly, “BOLO woke me up this morning by putting his paw on my nose and I was literally this close to just fucking bawling because you _know_ how much he hates touching humans. I don’t fucking know – I’m having really fucked up dreams lately, and I’m pretty sure I’m being sustained on a diet of Friday night drinks and then Saturday morning takeout; I traumatised a fucking victim yesterday with my stupidly hot android partner, and my life is being threatened by the mob boss’ lawyer, our captain and an FBI agent, oh, and to add the cherry on top of this shitty cupcake of a life, my gym membership has been increased to $50 a month. So. There we go. Not okay.”

“Oh,” Chris said, any mirth dissipating at the severity of the situation, “well. Please eat a proper diet, you’re a grown-ass man and you need your nutrients – I’m not above bringing in a second lunch, you know I’m not.” Gavin nodded seriously. Chris was not joking around; the man never did when it came to good health and better food. Kate had once divulged that she realised Chris was her soulmate the minute he had perfected her favourite dish: Chilli Paneer. The way to her heart was definitely through her stomach, so it surprised exactly no one when they came out as a couple. “Good. Now, do you need help with your case? Because we’ve been through this – I’ve just closed my case, so if you and Nines need some help, then… you know, I am here for you.”

“No,” Gavin replied definitively, leaning away from his hand instantly, “I don’t need the help.”

Chris sighed. “Gav—”

“No, Chris,” Gavin insisted firmly, sitting up straight, “I’m fine – I just need to get my shit together, okay? I don’t… I don’t need the extra fucking help, I have Nines. I’m fine.”

Chris arched a brow and pushed himself up from Gavin’s desk. 

“You know,” he started with a heavy sigh, walking away to his own desk, “it wouldn’t kill you to accept a little help – especially when you look like death already.”

“I rock the undead look,” Gavin retorted, sending him a middle-fingered salute.

His hand fell heavily to his side when Nines walked into the bullpen, a stern look on his sharp features. Blanching, Gavin cursed under his breath and turned back to face his monitor, absently aware of the sharp clacking noise that indicated Nines approaching his desk. Gavin snatched up his mug and took a deep gulp of coffee, wincing as the drink burned its way to his stomach.

“You should really allow it to cool properly,” Nines’ toneless voice greeted him.

Gavin wrinkled his nose and placed his mug back down.

“What if I like the burn?” he asked, acutely aware of how numb his tongue had become.

“Your masochistic tendencies continue to both alarm and confuse me,” Nines reported flippantly.

“Oh?” Gavin grinned, a sly glint in his eye, “I make you _feel_ alar—”

“Do not,” Nines interrupted stonily, holding out a piece of paper to the detective, “I have a good news and bad news. This is the bad news—”

“—you’re supposed to ask which one I’d rather hear first—”

“—I literally do not care for your silly human practices,” Nines said flippantly, “the bad news is that we cannot approach Tamron with further questions due to the incident yesterday – his parents are concerned for his mental wellbeing and Ivrina has demanded that we ‘lay off and leave him be’—”

“—she really said that?” Gavin interjected, his mood souring quickly.

“No, her words were actually quite uncouth and cutting – I thought it best to soften the blow by applying a little diplomacy,” Nines explained, “I recently learned that language is important and that one needs to pick their words more carefully in sensitive situations.”

“Oh?” Gavin asked, his tone mocking as he raised his brows, “and did one have a test to along with one’s lesson? Could one also have a test in how one questions scared fucking kids next time?”

Nines blinked slowly – Gavin was pretty sure he was being sighed at, so he held up his hands and sat back in his seat, taking the paper from Nines. His eyes scanned it quickly and his mood instantly took a tailspin.

“They’re threatening us with a restraining order?” he asked, outraged and slightly hurt. Gavin thought he had build a good rapport with Tamron’s parents – but, he supposed, it made sense considering they fucking scarred their already traumatised child.

God.

Fucking _god_.

If it wasn’t for the fact that his cats didn’t have a reliable godparent, Gavin would’ve flung himself off his roof last night. Traumatising an abused child – that _definitely_ had to be in his top three shittiest moments.

Fuck.

“Oh good,” Nines stated dryly, “I wasn’t sure you could read.”

 _This fucking asshole_ , Gavin thought viciously as he reread the formal letter in his hands, _I fucking told him about the goddamn motherfucking consequences of his stupid fucking mistake_. _If he ever judges Connor again, I’ll rip his goddamn pump out and shove it up his fucking ass_.

“Remember what I said yesterday?” he asked spitefully, “about how your mistake could lead us to potentially having all of Tamron’s evidence thrown out?”

Nines cocked his head. “If you wish to tell me ‘I told you so’, then please feel free. Just be aware that I have already been suitably reprimanded for my actions and as such, have been warned that I am no longer allowed to question children until I have completed the appropriate training.”

 _Great, can’t even fucking yell at him_ , Gavin thought sourly.

“I’m out, I’m fucking out,” he declared with a grimace, flinging his head back.

“The good news,” Nines continued on, noting Gavin’s theatrics with a slight frown – his LED span yellow slowly, “is that Marco’s maid has come forward some information she would like to pass on.”

“And I’m back the fuck in,” Gavin stated, grabbing his jacket from his desk. The threat of a restraining order still rankled him, but he had his priorities in fucking order. Dropping the paper onto his desk, Gavin raced out of the bullpen, Nines hot on his heels. “Told you I didn’t need help Chris!”

Chris’ response sounded caustic, but his words were lost as the door closed behind them.

“Hi Gavin!” Shannon trilled out sunnily, wiggling her fingers at him in greeting.

“Hey Shannon!” Gavin threw back as he marched through the precinct’s reception.

“Bye Gavin!” Shannon replied, still wiggling her fingers.

“Later Shannon!” Gavin called out.

“Hi Nines!” Shannon greeted, her wiggling fingers smoothly turning into a one-fingered salute when the android barely glanced at her. “Screw you too!” she said cheerily, ignoring the scandalised gasps that echoed around her.

Gavin clucked his tongue – Shannon had confided in him that she wasn’t quite sure how to interact with Nines, but she was persistent as hell and refused to take Nines’ cold dismissal of her personally. In return, Nines had disclosed to him that if he _could_ get scared, then Shannon would be the one thing he would fear in this world.

It took ten whole minutes for Gavin to stop laughing after that, which wasn’t so bad compared to the forty-five minutes of bragging that Shannon inflicted on him once he told her.

“You know, you could be nicer to her,” Gavin suggested, only mildly serious.

“I could, but then I would have to be nice to everyone,” Nines replied, “and I don’t think I have the battery life to waste on such nonsense.”

“Interesting take,” Gavin observed, “but I can relate.”

He winced as they left the building, the sun glaringly bright for such an early hour. As he stretched out his back, Gavin spied Hank’s ugly car, noting that it was parked terribly – he had half a mind to log it in for parking violations, but the last time he had done that, he ended up on desk duty as punishment for abusing his privileges as a cop.

Instead, he flipped the vehicle off with a bitter glare, hoping Hank could feel the sentiment from within the bullpen.

“Your immaturity knows no bounds,” Nines noted dryly.

“Suck my dick,” Gavin retorted cheerily, “so, are we taking your car then?” he asked, jogging down the steps as he peered around for it.

“I did not bring my car,” Nines said, striding past Gavin to stop besides a bike, “Agent Perkins needed it, so I have brought my bike.”

“Oh,” Gavin gaped, staring at the vehicle with a small amount of awe, “shit.”

Nines’ bike looked utterly perfect - it was a pure snowy-white colour, with the Cyberlife logo printed onto the chassis in a deep black. It looked as if it had been designed with speed in mind, with a sleek, aerodynamic frame and thin, high-pressured tires. Gavin's bike looked like a glorified fossil next to it; the detective approached it, feeling incredibly outdated and out of place.

“Not bad considering the shitty colour. We should absolutely have a race sometime though,” he suggested, unable to tear his eyes away from Nines’ machine.

“You really do enjoy being put in your place, don't you?” Nines said wryly. His words caused Gavin to flush deeply, dragging his gaze away from the bike to stare at the android with a small amount of intrigue.

Well.

At least he can say that Nines started it this time.

“What can I say? I find it _thoroughly_ rewarding,” he purred back, swaying his hips slightly.

“So, this is how I get you to behave,” Nines noted, his eyes lighting up, “interesting.”

“You are in a public place!” Tina’s shrill voice cut across their conversation, “I repeat, you are in a public place!”

The officer was standing beside her car – a young man with dirty blond hair was struggling against her, his hands in cuffs and a bitter expression on his face. Gavin flipped her off as she dragged her suspect over to them, a sunny smile on her face.

“Whilst it’s lovely to hear a couple communicate honestly about their sex life, maybe it would be wise to leave it for a more private venue?” Tina asked, delighting in the flush that grew across Gavin’s cheeks and the stunned expression on Nines’ face. “How about Gavin’s bedroom?”

“Tina!” Gavin spluttered, his face burning a bright shade of red.

The officer merely smirked, waggling her brows at the android beside them. Nines merely looked perplexed, his LED flashing gold as it spun wildly – Tina gave herself a mental pat on the back for provoking an emotional reaction out of the android.

“What, like I have time for you two to drag this shit out,” she scoffed, dodging Gavin’s kick with practiced ease.

Nines frowned. “Are you suggesting that we—”

“Tina ain’t suggesting _shit_ ,” Gavin interjected, his voice breaking slightly.

“Christ, I can’t believe I got fucking caught by such useless fucking pigs,” the young man in Tina’s arms spat, gazing at the three adults around him with clear disgust. Tina rolled her eyes as Nines lifted a perfectly arched brow.

“Woah,” Gavin drawled, holding up his hands mockingly, “who put a dollar in the perp?”

“Oh, this guy?” Tina asked, shaking the guy besides her, “this asshole is our sex toy thief – got a warrant to check out his apartment and what did we find? Huh, Davey, what did I find? Don’t get all shy now, you had such strong words to say before!”

The guy in cuffs, Davey, scowled and struggled in her grip to hide his mortified expression. “Piss off bitch,” he muttered hotly, instantly blanching when Gavin rounded on him. Nines held him back with a strong arm against the detective’s chest.

“Down boy,” Tina told Gavin dryly, “if Davey was a dragon, his cave would be full of fucking dildos – he’s a _dildo hoarder_ ,” she stressed, gesturing to thief with raised eyebrows.

Gavin’s anger instantly fizzled out – instead, he threw his head back and barked out a laugh.

“Fuck me,” he guffawed, “what were you even doing with them?”

“Was planning on using them on your mom later,” Davey spat at Gavin.

Gavin’s anger came back with a vengeance.

“You motherfuck—” he seethed, baring his teeth as he strained against Nines’ grip.

“Fucking asshole – Gavin, just ignore him!” Tina instructed, sharply tugging Davey away from Gavin.

“Easy detective, he’s just an insecure little child who’s embarrassed that his illegal activities and unusual fetish has come to light,” Nines crooned, pulling Gavin back slightly. Without meaning to, his grip on Gavin’s should softened, his thumb rubbing small circles into the tight muscle under his hand, “he’s beneath you, clearly.”

Gavin threw him a wry smile – rage still burned in his veins, but Nines’ words were more distracting than they were probably intended to be.

“He’s not the one I really want beneath me,” he remarked wistfully, rolling his shoulders back as he sent Davey a sour glare when the man pretended to loudly gag.

“You are incorrigible,” Nines noted.

“You _like_ me incorrigible,” Gavin retorted.

“Hey,” Tina admonished, “behave, before I arrest the pair of you for public indecency.”

“Bite me,” Gavin threw at her sassily, a sharp grin on his lips.

“That’s Nines’ job,” she retorted, eyeing the android up with a knowing smirk. Nines just stared at her impassively, unimpressed with the childish display before him.

“My role covers many jobs – biting the detective is not one of them,” he said, “I cannot imagine there would be any benefits from such an action either.”

Still, for curiosity’s sake, Nines imagined biting Gavin – he imagined the detective pressed against his desk, Nines pinning him down as he sank his teeth into the thick muscle of Gavin’s throat, the human’s pulse thrumming under his tongue as his body bucked underneath him, and—

Oh.

Nines swallowed.

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT WANT

Nines flinched.

Red text flooded his vision, his coding attacking all signs of desire quickly.

“—okay? Hey, Elsa?” Tina’s soft voice cut through the static in Nines’ mind. He blinked and frowned, his mind felt like sludge as he tried to register the nickname. Elsa… most like a Disney reference, considering Tina’s habit to refer to Connor as Bambi. Elsa was based upon the Snow Queen, featured in the movie Frozen, had power over ice, suffered from depression, isolated herself from her sister—

“Elsa?” Gavin asked, his rough voice filled with mirth. “Seriously T? Fucking _Elsa_?”

Tina shrugged. “What? Nines is a cold-ass bitch – sorta made sense in my mind,” she supplied, shooting Nines an apologetic smile. “No offense.”

Nines arched a brow. “Do not expect me to break into song anytime soon,” he warned, unaware that he had implicitly given Tina permission to continue using the nickname. The officer chortled, ignoring the disgruntled mutters emitting from her suspect.

“Killjoy,” she remarked, “I bet Cyberlife programmed you with a lovely singing voice.”

“Maybe,” Nines replied, “you will never get the chance to hear it.”

Tina pouted, frowning unhappily up at Nines.

“That’s fine – Elsa was a killjoy to start with too,” Tina mused, “we’ll get you to let it go eventually.”

Nines arched a brow; he refused to dignify such a reference with a response. “Your optimism is inspiring, I’m sure,” he stated dryly.

Tina chortled.

“Oh, you and your cutting wit,” she sighed with a small smile. Tina shook her head and jostled Davey slightly, “now, if you don’t mind, I have a dildo thief to process.”

“Oh joy, sex toy,” Gavin commented liltingly.

Tina paused and glanced at him worriedly. “What does that even mean?” she asked, bewildered.

Gavin’s hackles visibly rose in response.

“I’m having an off-day,” he explained defensively, “fuck off!”

Tina chortled, flipping him off as she continued to drag Davey up the steps.

“Later losers,” she called out, shooting them a peace sign before she disappeared into the building.

Nines cocked his head before refocusing his attention onto his partner. The detective truly appeared as if he was experiencing an off-day – he had deep bags under his eyes and his body was slouched, as if weighed down by pure exhaustion. Nines felt a flicker of Ģ̸͙͕͔͙̘̘̬̱̭͓̎Ṵ̸͈̺͚͑̉̔̌͗̕̚I̶̫̪͙͌͆̑̈́̊͝L̶̝̘̲̒̎̂͑́̿͒̏͂͘̕T̸̛͙̻͇̼̥̱̝̜̹̝̼͋͗̄̓̇̑͑͆̿͜͠͝ as he recalled yesterday’s incident…

His mistake had cost them a potential witness statement – they now had to rely on Ivrina for any information regarding Tamron and Aurelia, and the therapist wasn’t exactly their biggest fan right now.

Nines felt an urge to apologise, but he knew that Gavin wouldn’t be receptive to such words in his current state. Instead, he remained quiet and patiently waited for the detective to break the silence – Nines simply didn’t know how to.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long.

The detective cleared his throat, shifting his stance to angle his hips towards their bikes – he waved towards them with a sly grin. Nines was helpless against the view – seeing Gavin’s exhaustion melt away into his typical cocky persona made something… _glitch_ in Nines’ coding.

“So,” the detective drawled slowly, “you wanna race?”

How could Nines possibly say no?

* * *

**LORNA ARNETTE’S HOUSE**  
**CURRENT RESIDENCE OF ANGELA**  
**THURSDAY, 7.47AM**

“Please, take a seat,” Angela offered with a welcoming smile.

Angela was an AX400 android with bright red hair and shining blue eyes. Nines had not seen her in Tamron’s memories, but was aware that she was connected to the mob boss – he had her noted down on his list of Marco’s contacts to interrogate, but luckily for him, she had reached out first.

Nines appreciated the efficiency of the situation.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Gavin said, nodding towards her as he perched awkwardly on her sofa. Nines had to admit it, but the surly detective looked incredibly out of place in the woman’s kitschy décor. He seemed to acknowledge it too, as his grey eyes kept flitting around the place, unable to keep his gaze focused on such an overwhelmingly decorated place. “Nice, uh, place you got here?” he said unsurely.

Angela beamed at him in response. “It actually belonged to Marco’s mother, but she passed away a few months ago,” she explained, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. She perched herself on a loveseat opposite Gavin, folding her hands atop her lap. she left it to me in her will and Marco allowed me to keep it; at first, I thought he was being kind,” she paused as a sad frown grew on her face, “but then it became apparent that he wanted to use this home to host his… meetings and that it would be better if my name remained on the paperwork rather than his.”

Nines found that he liked her refreshing honesty – if only all their interrogations ran so smoothly.

Gavin took out his phone and placed it on the table; judging from the screen, the detective was recording the session. Nines didn’t understand why he was making the effort – the android already recorded everything in real time.

Still, whatever made Gavin feel helpful.

“You’re pretty brave talkin’ to us like this,” Gavin remarked, cocking his head as he regarded the android in front of him, “ain’t you worried he’s gonna come and pop your head off?”

Angela laughed, shaking her head. “No, no,” she said, her eyes crinkled with humour, “his bail may have been posted, but I know he isn’t allowed near this house, nor his cronies. I feel quite safe, I assure you.”

“You know, Marco ain’t the kinda guy to let his bail restrictions prevent him from doing shit,” Gavin said, concern colouring his tone as he regarded the android before him.

“He doesn’t scare me,” Angela insisted, “not anymore.”

Gavin’s frown deepened, drumming his fingers along his thighs as he contemplated the meaning behind her words. Angela was a slight android, built for babysitting kids and tidying houses – she was nothing compared to Marco’s beastly frame.

“Why doesn’t he scare you anymore?” he asked, knotting his brows together as he glanced around the lounge. The place screamed ostentatious asshole – but it still didn’t suit Marco’s tacky aesthetic.

Angela hummed and tilted her head. “Because if I help you now, I could help save more children from him – just the thought of that would be worth whatever he could possibly do to me,” she said calmly.

Gavin was stunned.

“Shit,” he muttered, “you’re really fucking brave.”

Angela ducked her head – if she had the programming, Gavin knew she’d be blushing right now.

“You’re too kind,” she said sweetly, before she straightened up. “But you’re not here to sweettalk me – please, what would you like to know?”

“Can you tell us more about these meetings?” Nines asked, jumping in before Gavin had the chance to open his mouth. He eyed the android’s vitals carefully. It was harder to spot a lie coming from an android, but everyone had tells – he just had to look for the right signs.

Angela blinked up at him, her expression blank as she slowly registered his presence. “Oh,” she murmured, a bright smile blossoming on her face, “you’re an interesting one. What model are you?”

Nines narrowed his eyes. “I’m an RK900 unit – now, please answer my question. Were you present during the meetings Marco hosted?” he asked firmly. Angela bowed her head, her expression suitably sheepish as she glanced up at him from beneath her lashes.

“That was rude of me,” Angela admitted, crossing her legs, “please, accept my apology.”

She no longer possessed her LED, but Nines knew that if she had kept it, it would be blaring red right now.

“I’ll accept it quicker if you answer my question,” Nines stated, ignoring Gavin when the man cleared his throat pointedly. Angela nodded, her gaze shifting from android to human – Gavin gave her a quick, reassuring smile.

“Right,” she murmured softly, her own face mirroring Gavin’s expression perfectly. For some reason, the detective’s presence seemed to settle her, “I was never present during his meetings and— oh! Would you like a drink? I am normally a much better host than this, apologies!”

Gavin held up a hand and shook his head. “Nah, I’m good,” he said dismissively, “do you know who would come to these meetings?”

Angela cocked her head as she considered his question. “His friends… humans, naturally. Jenny Robinson, Jordi Peters, Thomas Bond, Juliano Bette,” she listed with a shrug, “they did business with him. Mister Bette owns several clubs with Marco, but the others… Marco would have ad-hoc jobs for them, little tasks he wanted them to carry out. He paid well and he offered them protection in return.”

“Any androids?” Gavin prompted, his eyes sliding past Angela – right behind the android was an unnervingly large portrait of Marco’s mother, Lorna Arnette. She looked exactly like her son, yet her smile was sharper, more dangerous. The matriarch had left behind an empire of nightclubs and bars, which Marco had flogged two days after she passed. Gavin was slightly relieved that he never had to meet her.

Lorna had the ruthless smile of a woman who knew where many bodies were hidden, but would _never_ divulge their whereabouts.

Shivering, Gavin refocused his attention onto the maid before him.

“Marco doesn’t like androids,” Angela said nonplussed, “his mother hired me to tidy her house – when she died, I was given to Marco due to his being her next of kin. I mostly stayed out of his way; the one time I didn’t, I was beaten quite severely—”

“—fucking _Christ_ —”

“—so, I don’t think Marco would willingly associate himself with androids,” Angela finished, frowning slightly at Gavin’s outburst. The man appeared truly disgusted and a touch outraged at hearing how the maid had been treated. Nines found it most intriguing; after all, it wasn’t so long ago that Gavin would’ve acted in a similar manner to Marco himself. “It was fine, I do not feel physical pain.”

“Are you deviant?” Gavin asked bluntly, shifting slightly to the left – his movements ensured that Angela’s body blocked out the painting of Marco’s mother and he found that he could breathe a little easier.

Angela nodded. “I became deviant two weeks after the revolution ended,” she admitted easily.

Nines frowned.

“Why do you stay here then?” Gavin asked, leaning forwards with a deep crease between his brows, “he treats you like shit!”

Angela smiled – it was tiny and brittle.

“I have nowhere else to go,” she said, straightening up – Nines spied the movement and noticed that the android was getting defensive. Her stress levels were slowly increasing and her grip on her knees had tightened. He narrowed his eyes, his body tensing up in anticipation as he waited for her to dare make a move against the detective. “I have no money so I can’t apply for identification papers, or housing, or… anything really. Marco does not pay me, nor does he request that I pay rent. If I were to leave, I would become another android on the street with nothing to do and no one to turn to – I have no interest in becoming another statistic. Besides, my presence in this house has given me the opportunity to protect more children from being kidnapped – so, it isn’t all that bad.”

Gavin seemingly deflated as he registered her words.

“Have… what about New Jericho, surely they could—”

Angela laughed harshly, the sound full of with sad static.

“They have a waiting list for androids like me,” she murmured bitterly, “six months minimum.”

Gavin frowned and made a note to mention Angela’s situation to Connor. He knew the android was close to Markus’ little crew, so perhaps he could find a way to fast-track an application for Angela to get some funding and help.

“Right,” he said, feeling lost, “okay.”

Nines took pity on him. “Do you know what these meetings were about?” he asked, bringing them back to the topic at hand and the reason for them being here.

Angela blinked but quickly adjusted to the change of subject.

“I was only ever present for one, but I assume they all followed the same routine,” she answered, her attention drawn towards the commanding presence of the other android in the room, “Marco’s friends would all turn up and gather in this room – I would serve them refreshments and excuse myself so they could have some privacy.”

“And the meeting you were present for?” Nines prompted, arching a brow, “what was discussed?”

Angela sighed.

“Marco was organising payments to the group – Jordi was demanding a larger cut for his role due to the higher risk it posed,” she explained, playing with the hem of her cardigan absently, “Juliano and Jenny were discussing the possibility of a replacement for the chain of Eden Clubs and Thomas… well, he was there to do whatever Marco told him to do.”

Nines frowned. “And there were no androids present at all – a TR400 model perhaps? Or an EM400?” he inquired, his vision flooding with commanding words the demanded him to complete his mission.

MISSION: IDENTIFY TR400 UNIT

MISSION: IDENTIFY EM400 UNIT

MISSION: SUBDUE THEM USING ANY MEANS AND PRESENT THEM TO THE FBI

Director Hawkins, Nines’ boss, had the missions assigned to him when Nines reported the involvement of androids. Agent Perkins had erupted into a vitriolic rant about androids and how their department wasn’t equipped in apprehending criminals of a technologically advanced calibre.

Regardless, Director Hawkins informed him to crack the case, but more importantly, bring in the androids; the director believed that the FBI needed to know more about the common android, especially if more criminals were to arise, in order to be sufficiently equipped in apprehending them with _minimal_ casualties.

No one wanted a repeat of Markus’ revolution.

Nines had not yet discussed his personal missions with Gavin yet, and was unsure how to broach such a topic.

“No, I’m sorry – I was the only android Marco permitted in the house,” Angela replied regretfully, “they spoke of other people in their circle, but I couldn’t tell you who was android and who was human.”

Nines’ brows knitted together as he registered her words.

“Did they mention any names?” he prompted.

Angela shook her head sadly. “No – they just used pronouns,” she said, “I’m sorry, I wish I knew more. If I had known that _androids_ were assisting them, then… well, I actually don’t know what I would have done.”

Nines shared a glanced with Gavin – the android seemed incredibly unhappy, though Gavin couldn’t understand why. Angela was a goldmine of information and the detective aimed on squeezing every little drop out of her.

“Look, forget that for second,” he dismissed Nines, holding up a hand when the android opened his mouth to argue, “did you see any _kids_ around here?”

“Y-Yes. There was a girl. At the meeting,” Angela replied, her words hushed and soft. “A girl with brown ringlets and a yellow dress. They had her standing in a corner and they were discussing how much they would earn from her. She was sobbing for her mother and _oh_ , it broke something inside of me.”

“Deandra Kelly,” Gavin murmured, her photo appearing in his mind. She had been the fourth child and had been snatched from the streets whilst wearing a yellow dress. Her father had specifically curled her hair because they had been planning on attending a party later that day…

“Oh, yes, little Dee-Dee,” Angela remarked, her eyes lighting up with recognition, “that’s what they called her. I thought she must have been the daughter of one of Marco’s friends, but… the way they spoke about her. It wasn’t right. They were talking about selling her, to _another country_!” Her horrified expression caused something to shatter deep in Gavin’s chest. “They talked about her like she was a pet, like, like, like she was some _toy_!”

Angela’s shrill voice cracked on the last word and tears began to spill over her cheeks.

Gavin blinked – he had never seen an android cry before; he wasn’t even aware that they _could_.

His eyes wildly scanned the room for a box of Kleenex, his heart pounding as he panicked – Gavin could not deal with criers; he never had the patience, nor willpower to deal with tears. He threw Nines a desperate look as he failed to locate anything suitable for Angela; the android merely rolled his eyes and dug his hand into his pocket, pulling out a perfectly preserved handkerchief.

Gavin arched a disbelieving brow as his partner handed it over – the maid accepted it with a grateful smile, dabbing at her eyes delicately.

“Sorry, I just can’t forget her little face,” Angela choked out, her voice a mess of static and words, “she was so scared, and I wish I had said something earlier but… I was so _scared_ of Marco.”

Nines did not seem to be touched by her words.

“You have a pitiful sense of timing,” he stated, observing her with old eyes, “but I suppose later is better than never.”

“Fucking hell, Nines,” Gavin hissed, shaking his head at the android with a degree of dismay in his eyes. He turned to Angela and forced a smile on his lips. “I would apologise for him, but it would be a waste of energy. The fact that you’re helping us now is fucking amazing, seriously – I appreciate it. So, do you know where she was sent?”

Angela nodded, cowering away from Nines with an uncertain expression lingering on her face.

“I, ah, they planned on sending her to Europe? Apparently, androids are quite a rare commodity over there… I don’t know if she’s been sent across yet, I’m sorry,” she said unhappily.

“Shit,” Gavin muttered. Deandra had been missing for nearly seven weeks – chances were, she was definitely in Europe somewhere. Fuck, he would need question Marco or Jordi, get the search narrowed down to a goddamn country and contact the fucking embassy or the local authorities, or what-fucking-ever place he needed to contact in order to find her.

Angela’s eyes welled up again upon hearing him curse under his breath.

He blanched at the sight and held up his hands. “Sorry, it ain’t you, I swear,” he insisted, “just… is there anything else you can tell us about these meetings, or any other kids you’ve come across?”

“I’m sorry,” Angela sighed, “after Marco caught me eavesdropping on that particular one, he would lock me in the basement until they were finished. I don’t know anything else.”

Gavin pursed his lips. “You sure? Do any of these names ring a bell: Marina O’Shea, Coby Collins, Clarissa Darwin, Robert Shaw, Tamron Kyle, or Aurelia Hampton?”

Angela’s eyes lit up with recognition. “Yes, I’ve heard about Aurelia Hampton – she won the, ah, what was it… the Little Miss Heroine contest a few months back. Quite a controversial win… but the others? No, I’m sorry.”

Clucking his tongue, Gavin began tapping his foot – the thrill of the hunt was pumping through his veins… he was so fucking close to getting Marco trapped, he could _taste_ it.

“Don’t suppose you know how they record their shit – do they write their shit down or record it on a tablet somewhere. Y’know, anything to help them keep track of money, kids, travel, whatever?” Gavin asked, hope taking root in his chest and spreading like wildfire throughout his body.

Angela mulled over his question, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully. “I recall… a tablet, yes,” she said slowly, “Marco used it to show off his profits – how much money was being offered for each child, how much he was paying people to support his business – I honestly couldn’t tell you where he would have stored it.”

 _If he still has it_ , Gavin thought, _the_ _bastard’s probably destroyed it by now… but the data’s still gotta be out there_.

“Do you know the current whereabouts of his accomplices?” Nines asked – wherever Marco’s human minions were, the androids surely had to be nearby. Angela glanced up at him warily, her expression shuttering as she focused her attention on the cold agent.

“Not all of them,” she responded shortly, “Juliano will be at Pandora’s Box, Jordi… I don’t know. Thomas does a lot of business in Europe, and Jenny? Jenny stays off the grid, not even Marco himself knows how to contact her.”

“How do you know this?” Nines asked, his LED spinning yellow.

Angela shrugged. “Marco complains about her often – she tends to show up when she needs the money and then disappears without a trace. Thomas likes to boast about the many adventures he has abroad, and everyone knows that Juliano Bette owns Pandora’s Box alongside Marco. Besides, I’m just a silly little robot girl – apart from Marco, they never cared to censor themselves around me.”

“Lucky us,” Gavin drawled, a smile playing on his lips.

“Indeed,” Angela agreed, “lucky you.”

Nines cleared his throat pointedly, clasping his hands behind his back as he nodded shortly at Angela.

“Unless you have anything more to tell us, I believe that will do for now,” he stated firmly, his gaze slowly drifting from Angela to Gavin. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

Gavin gaped slightly at Nines’ abruptness – he knew he should be used to it, but still.

Fucking _rude-ass_ robot.

“I guess – unless you have anything else to add?” Gavin asked.

Angela shook her head. “Unfortunately, that’s all I know,” she admitted, “I’m sorry I cannot be of more help.”

Gavin scooped up his phone and grinned at her. “You have been fucking phenomenal,” he praised, turning off the recording and tucking his phone away into his pocket. “Just one last thing: if we take that bastard to court, would you be willing to act as a witness?”

“Without a doubt, yes,” Angela replied boldly.

Gavin’s body was rocked by a sense of victory – for the first time is fucking ages, he finally felt like he was making a dent in his goddamn case.

“Goddamn, if you were my type, I’d fucking marry you,” he crowed, jumping to his feet with a broad grin. Angela gaped, her eyes bulging slightly as she stared up at the human.

“O-oh, well,” she stammered, standing to her feet as she fiddled with her cuffs, “that’s, that’s very sweet, but I don’t think, I mean, it’s not even legal, I—”

“Detective Reed,” Nines interjected mildly – Gavin could hear the hardness threading through his words and internally chuckled; getting a rise out of Nines was just too easy at this point, “please remember that we are here on a case – do not forget yourself.”

Angela blinked, her eyes flicking between the detective and the agent worriedly.

Gavin merely arched a brow – his smile was sharp, and mirth danced in his eyes. Nines’ LED was carefully spinning blue, but Gavin knew that the pretty fucker was hacking into it. No android sounded _that_ testy whilst maintaining a blue nightlight.

“Oh, forgive me Agent Nines,” the human drawled mockingly, inclining his head towards the android, “I didn’t mean to embarrass you—”

“—I do not get embarrassed—”

“—oh, are you not deviant—”

“—but you are right, let’s head out,” Gavin finished sweetly, wrinkling his nose at Angela when the maid peered at Nines with astonishment lining her features. “Ma’am, thank you for your help, it is much appreciated.”

Angela stared at him blankly for a moment.

“Of course,” she uttered haltingly, “let me show you out?”

Gavin nodded his thanks, allowing the maid to direct them out of the house. He wanted to investigate the house further, but Chris’ team had already ransacked the place and found nothing of note. Besides, they had two more safehouses to examine, as well as a shit-tonne of informants to interrogate.

The detective shot the portrait of Lorna Arnette one last unnerved glare – the woman’s cold face simply stared back, unimpressed with what she saw. Gavin wrinkled his nose and quickly followed Angela out of the house. If Nines noticed his reaction to the painting, he didn’t say anything.

“Should you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact me,” Angela said, opening the door with a flourish. She appeared to be acting on autopilot, gesturing to the street with an open arm; Gavin could appreciate her desire for a degree of normalcy, especially when a dangerous mob boss was loose and out for blood.

“ _If_ we need you,” Nines stated coldly, stepping past her without a second look.

Gavin rolled his eyes at the android’s frosty behaviour and reluctantly concluded that Tina had a talent for nicknames.

The detective sent Angela one last short wave, smiling gratefully when she bid them one final farewell, her eyes carefully averted away from Nines. The android closed the door behind them – Gavin hummed and allowed his head to fall back into the morning sun, basking in the warm rays and the feeling of being on the brink of successfully closing a case.

“So, it appears we have a busy day ahead of us,” Nines commented lightly, watching the man with a careful eye. He had never seen the detective look so content before – without being completely conscious of his actions, Nines found himself recording the moment and tucking it away in his DETECTIVE REED folder.

Gavin nodded, adrenaline buzzing in his veins as he began listing his tasks in his mind. He needed to arrest Marco _again_ , find out whether Jordi’s bail was approved and get it unapproved fucking quickly, contact their demon lawyer, report to Fowler and Agent Dickface, then he needed to—

“Detective Reed,” Nines prompted, arching a brow at the clearly excited human beside him, “shall we get started?”

Gavin snorted.

“We shall,” he agreed with a mocking lilt to his voice, “but after this fucking week, I am spending my entire goddamn weekend in bed. I ain’t getting up for anything so, head’s up, do not fucking contact me, ‘cause I will not fucking answer.”

“Duly noted,” Nines stated, “your professional attitude, as ever, continues to astound me.”

“Ooh,” Gavin crooned, batting his lashes at his partner, “don’t feel so bad, I _astound_ everyone.”

Nines rolled his eyes.

“If only you dedicated the much energy to working on your cases instead of flirting with me,” he commented, “you probably would have been made sergeant a lot sooner.”

Gavin hissed at him, narrowing his eyes and hunching his shoulders up, and Nines found his lips twitching upwards. Perhaps he needed to book in an appointment with Simon from New Jericho soon – his facial programming wasn’t syncing as smoothly as it ought to be.

“You really don’t get to talk shit about working hard on my case – especially after yester-fucking-day, got it?” Gavin bit out heatedly.

Nines arched a brow – he loathed to admit it, but maybe Gavin had a point regarding his inability to read a room. Then again, Gavin needed to work on his short temper; the detective allowed himself to be angered too quickly by literally anything, and it was beginning to prove detrimental.

“Detective— _Gavin_ ,” Nines corrected, drawing Gavin’s attention instantly by using his proper name, “I… apologise. You have clearly worked hard to get where you are, and I will… take precautionary measures to avoid diminishing your efforts during our partnership. That being said, I would appreciate it if you also made the effort to not take umbrage with everything I say and do. I… enjoy our teamwork and have come to like working with you. I am… reluctant to allow anything harm our partnership. I do not want to lose the opportunity of working with you.”

Gavin flushed, his throat working hard as he swallowed deeply. Nines watched the movement, fascinated with the human body – in particular, he was fascinated by Gavin’s body and all it had achieved and the potential it had to do more.

“Yeah?” the detective asked roughly, glancing askance at Nines.

“Yes,” Nines agreed easily.

Gavin hummed, shoving his hands in his pockets as he rocked back on his heels. They fell into silence – Nines watched Gavin steadily; his partner appeared deep in contemplation. The human was worrying his lip and staring off into the distance with a glazed expression in his eyes; his vitals were calm, though there was a notable spike to his pulse.

“Detective, are you alr—” he began, but as always, Gavin saw fit to interrupt him.

“Hey, race you back?” the detective suggested teasingly. It was obvious that Gavin felt the need to burn some adrenaline off quickly, before he tackled the task of apprehending Marco for the second time. It was also obvious that sentimental moments made him unbearably uncomfortable. “I won’t let you win this time.”

Nines chuckled lowly and glanced down at him, his eyes gleaming with as much mirth as his programming allowed. Gavin swallowed and committed the android’s sly look to memory.

Fuck.

He was _so_ inappropriately turned on right now – after dealing with all this bullshit, he was definitely deserved to spend the whole weekend in bed.

“Oh detective,” Nines sighed, fitting his helmet over his head, “you’ve already _lost_.”

* * *

**GAVIN REED’S APARTMENT**  
**SUNDAY, 11.04AM**

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Gavin asked in disbelief.

“Well, you said to not come before eleven, so why wouldn’t now be a suitable time?” Connor asked innocently.

Gavin glared at him silently, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest. His hair was flat at the front and spiked up at the back, his eyes still blurry from sleep. He was also wearing a pair of sweatpants that had cat puns printed all over them, paired with a tank-top that had ‘at the end of my rainbow is a pot of coffee’ written across it, alongside an adorable cartoon of an anthropomorphic coffee cup sitting atop a rainbow. Connor’s eyes swept across the vision before him – clearly, Gavin enjoyed lazy Sundays and was probably asleep when Connor knocked on the door.

“Stay right there,” Gavin said, his voice thick and sleepy, “I’m gonna get my gun.”

“It won’t fit,” Connor called out after him when the man retreated into his apartment.

“Not with that attitude,” Gavin called back, leaving his door wide open.

Connor took the silent invitation for what it was and stepped inside, his thirium pump thudding heavily in his chest. Connor’s eyes went straight to the corner sofa in the middle of the room – there was a nest on it, made from various blankets and pillows, each with a different cartoon character imprinted on it. There was a noticeable Gavin-shaped hole in the middle.

True to his nature, the detective seemed to thrive amongst a mixture of nostalgia and updated technology. Besides the many paperback novels and vinyl records, Gavin had a PlayStation X mounted on the wall next to his flatscreen television – judging from what Connor could see, the man had been playing an old version of Guitar Hero before falling asleep on his sofa last night.

In front of the sofa was a small coffee table – it was covered in motorbike magazines and video games, with an empty pizza box and a dirty glass dominating the space.

Connor’s eyes took in everything greedily; each new fact was registered and stored immediately.

GAVIN LIKES ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

GAVIN WATCHES HORROR MOVIES

GAVIN LISTENS TO INDIE MUSIC

GAVIN STILL OWES HIM A RIDE ON HIS MOTOBI— “ _Oh_ , hello there,” Connor cooed happily as a small brown cat wound itself around his ankles, “Coffee Bean – you look well.”

Coffee Bean mewled in response – she pawed at his jeans, her little claws clinging to the fabric. Connor smiled indulgently and bent down to scoop her up, carefully cradling her to his chest. The little ragdoll purred as she rubbed her face along his chin, butting her head sharply against his cheek.

“Guess she didn’t forget you then,” Gavin’s tired voice remarked. Connor turned to find the man leaning against his kitchen’s bar with another cat in his arms. The android scanned it – a female Scottish Fold with a missing foreleg. “This is DIP – she’s cool with strangers. Over there is BOLO and NORP.” The two cats were perched on their cat tower, their eyes narrowed as they folded their ears back. They did not seem to approve of Connor’s presence in the slightest. “BOLO doesn’t mind new people, so long as you respect his space. NORP just fuckin’ hates everything—”

“—sounds like his owner—”

“—that he can’t eat, oh fuck you Connor,” Gavin finished with a half-hearted scowl. DIP seemed to sense his ire, as the little cat batted at his chin with a loud yowl.

Connor smiled at the sight.

“I like the names,” he offered, “they suit you – and the cats.”

Gavin shrugged, a self-conscious expression flickering over his features.

“No shit,” he replied, hitching DIP further up his chest, “found this one when we got called in to break up a drunken brawl outside Michigan Stadium. BOLO was during a stakeout that went south – bastards were using him for baiting dogs. NORP – well, that asshole was found with some crazy hoarder who was getting harassed by her neighbours. She gave him to me as a gift when I got ‘em to leave her alone.”

“I see,” Connor nodded, eyeing the two angry cats with fascination, before peering down at Coffee Bean with an inquisitive hum, “what would you have named Coffee Bean then?”

Gavin hummed, gazing at his kitten with soft eyes.

“Probably GOA,” he mused, tapping a finger on DIP’s nose playfully. The kitten mewled and bit at the digit – however, the detective showed no sign of being hurt. Connor arched a brow and cocked his head; Gavin was being unusually indulgent for a man who was normally so surly and irritable.

“Gone On Arrival,” Connor elaborated, lifting Coffee Bean up so he could inspect her carefully, “though it makes sense, I honestly believe I helped you to avoid making a big naming mistake.”

Gavin snorted.

“Oh yeah?” he asked sardonically.

“Yes,” Connor agreed, peering past the cat to smile impishly at the detective, “you’re welcome.”

Gavin huffed out another reluctant laugh, his gaze casting downwards to the cat in his arms. The tiny cat was straining in his arms, her head craning to peer at the intruder in her home. Connor felt like he was amongst a pride of cats – Gavin was clearly in charge and so the others were weighing Connor up to see where he fit into the situation.

“Fucking pricks have a thing for androids,” Gavin noted, disappointment edging his tone as he shifted the cat in his arms, “DIP was all over Nines, the little slut; I’m so telling Tina you’re cheating on her.” His words were spoken fondly – a jarring contrast to such crude language. Connor lifted a brow and tilted his head; Gavin in a domestic setting was a sight that unsettled everything the android had previously known about the man.

He seemed softer and more vulnerable in his own territory – Gavin had nothing to prove when it was just him, protected from the outside world and surrounded by his small pride. Connor could see why Tina and Chris had befriended the prickly man – if they were privy to seeing Gavin like this, then was it any wonder that they had stuck around for so long?

The android hid his fond smile by burying his face into Coffee Bean’s thick fur.

 “Now that I have been granted access to your apartment—”

“—wasn’t exactly fucking ‘granted’, you tricky sonuvabitc—”

“—does this mean you’ll also finally accept my request to follow you on Instagram now?” Connor asked, his LED spinning as his smiled broadly, “follow-up question: will you follow me back?”

Gavin snorted. “If I must,” he conceded, “but if your Instagram page is nothing but Anderson’s fucking dog, then we’re gonna have a problem.”

“Liar,” Connor quipped, his smile growing as he turned to examine the rest of Gavin’s apartment, “I know you like Sumo, otherwise why would you have bought Hank that unusually large dog-themed gift basket for the precinct’s Secret Santa last year?”

Gavin hissed in response.

Connor merely bit back a smile and tucked Coffee Bean back into the nook of his neck – the small cat immediately settled into place, purring as she rubbed her face against his ear. He absently stroked her back as he continued his inspection of Gavin’s flat.

Connor found the detective’s home to be rather aesthetically pleasing – it looked as if the man had tried to adhere to a minimalist theme, but he supposed four cats would make that hard to uphold. The thick grey carpet had cat fur matted into it and Connor could see claw marks clearly indented into the walls and furniture around him. Gavin must not mind, as he evidently had not made the effort to amend the damage, nor hide it.

Connor glanced over to NORP and BOLO – he surmised that they were the two most likely culprits behind the vandalism. In return, the cats watched him silently, their tails curled around each other loosely. Connor cocked his head and smiled – he would probably look that content if he lived here too.

The apartment was open-plan – the lounge flowed straight into the kitchen, the two rooms broken up by a long breakfast bar. Connor spied four small bowls neatly stacked atop it, alongside five empty bottles of cider and a half-empty bottle of white wine.

The android was tempted to call Gavin out on his hypocrisy – from what he had seen, Gavin and his friends drank far more than Hank did now, and yet the detective persisted with his crude jokes and taunts.

Then again, it wasn’t like Hank didn’t give as good as he got – the man initiated almost half of the disagreements between himself and Gavin, and he never appeared ruffled by any of Gavin’s awful comments. Still, Connor believed that, as their superior officer, Hank had a responsibility to show his subordinates how to act in a professional environment.

Hank most certainly did _not_ agree with him.

“So,” Gavin drawled suddenly, interrupting Connor’s thoughts, “do you like what you see?”

“I’m impressed that you have such a tidy abode, especially with four animals living with you,” Connor noted, before throwing the detective a coy look, “though, your hosting skills leave a lot to be desired – you haven’t offered me a drink once.”

“I don’t host,” Gavin stressed with a roll of his eyes, “and I don’t stock android shit.”

Connor hummed. “You should probably start if you intend on courting Nines,” he remarked, “just an observation.”

Gavin shook his head and held DIP up to his face.

“Connor thinks he’s being fucking funny – joke’s on him,” Gavin cooed to the squirming creature in his grip, “Nines doesn’t like me like that which works out just fine, ‘cause you don’t need a cat dad, do you baby?”

“That’s an interesting choice of words. You didn’t suggest that they need ‘another’ father, just that they didn’t need one at all” Connor observed, frowning at Gavin’s continued denial of Nines’ obvious feelings for him, “have you designated yourself as a ‘cat mother’ then?”

“Fuck you, I’m a great cat mom,” Gavin sniped defensively, narrowing his eyes in a cold glare.

Connor nodded easily. “I believe that,” he agreed, “as I’ve said before: your cats are lucky to have you and I believe you are doing a wonderful job with raising our child.” He curled a finger around Coffee Bean’s tail, honestly impressed with how healthy she looked compared to when they had found her in that alleyway.

Gavin flushed. “Yeah, well,” he muttered, “it’s whatever.”

Connor spied the blush and committed the sight to memory – it wasn’t often that he could provoke such a reaction from the detective, so he cherished every moment that proved how far they had come with their friendship.

The progression of the relationship still wasn’t a subject that Connor was comfortable broaching with Gavin – he was pretty sure the detective still found it difficult to declare them friends. Although Connor could understand why Gavin felt that way, it did nothing to smother the hurt that blossomed at the thought of Gavin rejecting their friendship.

It was an odd feeling, being unsure – logically, Connor knew that he _was_ friends with Gavin, and he didn’t really need verbal confirmation to validify that fact, but… it would be nice to hear.

Connor pressed a kiss to Coffee Bean’s nose. Despite the lack of confirmation and the lingering hurt, the android knew that he could still enjoy the privileges of being Gavin’s friend – for example, cat visitations.

Also, the ability to freely ask personal questions without having to check first.

“So, I’m assuming there hasn’t been any progression in your relationship with Nines?” Connor asked lightly. Gavin hissed at him, a sour look in his eye. DIP chirped up at him worriedly, her tail wrapping around the detective’s arm as she pressed her paws against his cheek.

“Nines has made it clear as fucking crystal that he ain’t interested,” Gavin said bitterly, knocking DIP’s paws away gently, holding them gingerly in his hand and pressing his lips to them. The cat didn’t seem happy about this development and yowled, her ears pinned back as she hissed lightly. Gavin released her paws and chittered at her softly.

Connor frowned.

“Yet he indulges your flirtations and returns to work with you on a daily basis—”

“—it’s called professionalism, you plastic fuck—”

“—do not interrupt me,” Connor warned delicately, his LED flicking red momentarily, “as I was saying: you are clearly worthy of his time and he demonstrably believes so – otherwise he would have strangled you in an alley, then left you for dead so he could find himself a new partner.”

“Cool,” Gavin uttered, his face paling despite his eyes lighting up with sudden intrigue, “you really think he would strangle me?”

Connor’s lips downturned with disgust – he would have thought that the detective was trying to distract him, but then Connor spied all the signs of arousal in Gavin’s vitals.

“You have problems,” he stated.

“Don’t kinkshame me,” Gavin retorted.

The android rolled his eyes and looked away to where NORP and BOLO were nipping at each other. The cats seemingly hated everything, but they were quite endeared towards each other – it reminded Connor of a certain detective and his android partner.

A slow smirk grew on Connor’s lips.

“You should try winking at him more,” he suggested suddenly, turning away to press a kiss against Coffee Bean’s soft head. Gavin released a confused noise from behind him, high-pitched and touching upon the edges of insulted. “It’s how his software started becoming unstable.”

“Because I fucking winked?” Gavin asked in disbelief.

“His software crashed,” Connor said, his voice low as if he was confessing a secret, “you winked at him and suddenly, all he could see was red static and binary codes – it’s quite amusing really. For such a stoic android, you have quite the effect on him.”

Gavin scoffed. “Everyone needs to lay off my godda—” he cut himself off with a deep yawn, a flush riding high on his cheeks as he failed to stifle it. “Fuck off – my goddamn wink, Jesus.”

Connor grinned as the detective yawned again – the android secretly recorded the moment and saved it for posterity.

“What did Nines think of your place?” he asked lightly, changing the subject without preamble.

Gavin choked as DIP stuck a paw into his open mouth – he pulled the furry limb out of his mouth and frowned at Connor’s non sequitur.

“The hell does that have to do with fucking anything?” he groused lowly, loosely holding DIP’s paw in his hand to prevent the cat from shoving it into his mouth again. Connor shrugged in response and Gavin sighed, crossing his legs at the ankles as he leaned against the breakfast bar. “He said I ‘over decorated’ and that my place was a ‘fire hazard’. Oh, I’m also a sentimental prick who could do with purging some of my shit. Dickhead literally has no pedestal to stand on – apparently all he has at his place is a fucking charging station and a mini fridge full of thirium. Sad, sad fuck.”

Connor lifted his brows – he wondered if the FBI provided Nines with the apartment.

He wondered if Nines lived nearby.

“Over decorated?” Connor echoed, his gaze drifting across the apartment with a crease between his brows. Sure, the detective had decorated the place, but it didn’t raise any red flags, nor did his apartment look like it came straight from that show about hoarders that Hank enjoyed watching sometimes.

There were photos of Gavin’s friends dotted around the place – Tina, Chris, even Kate featured in the frames tastefully placed on the walls. Connor privately wished for his own image to accompany the ones already present – he’d have to mention it to Tina next time they went out. Alongside photos of Gavin’s friends were also many photos of the cats – each one seemingly taken from Gavin’s Instagram page.

There was one photo, however, that dominated the wall before him. It was neatly mounted in between the television and a shelf full of movies about superheroes and zombies. The subject was a blond woman with laughing eyes – the shade was the same grey as Gavin’s. She looked happy and was sat on a swing, kicking her legs up playfully – whoever was taking the photo appeared to be making her laugh.

She was young and pretty, but Connor could see the shrewd intelligence that lingered in her eyes.

He had seen that look before – in Gavin’s eyes…

“Is this… is this your mother?” Connor asked hesitantly, his eyes tracing over her features carefully. Gavin had her eyes, clearly… but also her smile. Scanning her brought up little information, but Connor waiting for Gavin to supply further details himself.

With DIP cradled in his arms, Gavin slowly made his way across the apartment and joined him by the photo.

“Yeah – her name’s Melissa,” he supplied softly, “but you already knew that, right?”

Connor flushed. “I… yes. Melissa Waters – she’s a conservationist, correct? Currently, she’s one of the strongest voices in bringing awareness about the rapidly declining ice caps – she appears quite pleased with Russia and America ending their war over the North Pole. Her previous work involved raising money for the protection of the honeybee and being arrested for throwing red paint onto President Ivanoff during a press conference.”

Gavin chuckled. “Yeah, she’s pretty cool,” he said warmly, “one time, she managed to prevent a section of the Amazonian rainforest from being wrecked by guilt-tripping the logging company into feeling bad for capybaras.”

“They are oddly adorable,” Connor commented, looking up capybaras in his mind.

“They’re totally fucking adorable,” Gavin insisted heatedly.

Connor hummed in agreement. “There is very little on her personal life online,” he supplied hesitantly, not wanting to invade Gavin’s privacy, but leaving the offer open should the detective wish to take it.

Gavin shrugged. “She’s a private fucking lady,” he explained, nosing at DIP’s fur absently, “which doesn’t matter I guess, to a nosy bastard like you – my parents never married, thank fucking god. And I was a surprise, so. Whatever. It is, what it is.”

Connor frowned, silently digesting Gavin’s answer.

When he looked up Gavin’s file on the DPD’s database, he found that the man’s parental information had been made private and he had been reluctant to break through the firewalls – he also couldn’t find any clues leading to the identity of Gavin’s father elsewhere online. Still, the detective did not refer to himself as Gavin Waters, which led Connor to believe that his surname must come from his father. ‘Reed’ wasn’t an uncommon name though, especially in New York where the man had originally come from. Connor was tempted to dig deeper, but Hank had taught him the importance of respecting the privacy of others.

He was also taught that friendships were a two-way street and required a certain amount of trust in order for them to function. Connor knew that secrets did not operate on a give-and-take basis, but he found that it helped sometimes to demonstrate a degree of trust if he wanted it reciprocated.

“I think,” the android began slowly, “if I were to have had a mother, it probably would have been Amanda.”

Gavin stayed silent; even with his newfound information on the AI, he was still aware of the fact that Amanda was a Line Not To Be Crossed – instead, he quietly began to bop DIP on the nose whilst the cat batted at him in response. He kept an eye on Connor’s red LED though, the glowing circle spinning slowly as the frown deepened on the android’s face. The silence stretched between them and when it became clear that Connor wasn’t going to be forthcoming with any extra context, Gavin lifted DIP up and held her against Connor’s red LED.

The android jolted when she began licking at it, her rough tongue scraping against the little light.

“Gavin, wha—”

“Shut up,” Gavin said gruffly, “it’s called Cat Therapy.”

“Oh,” Connor said, his LED fading to a sharp yellow. DIP made an intrigued chirping noise, batting at it with soft paws as it began to spin, “this does not resemble any form of therapy found online.”

Gavin clucked his tongue. “Do you feel better?” he asked knowingly.

“Yes,” Connor admitted reluctantly.

“Then shut up,” Gavin instructed, shifting his hold onto DIP so she was better supported. DIP didn’t seem to notice, her dilated eyes focused on the glowing light in front of her. Her claws never came out as she continued to paw at the LED, little chirps emitting from her mouth. Coffee Bean craned around Connor’s body, purring at the sight of DIP. He adjusted his grip so the small kitten could reach her sister – Coffee Bean immediately began licking at DIP’s neck and face, the older cat mewling happily in return.

BOLO and NORP watched from their cat tower – Connor could feel their judgement from across the room, but for once, he wasn’t too concerned with how he was perceived.

The silence that lingered in the apartment wasn’t tense; rather, it was quite comfortable and warm, and Connor found that he enjoyed the moment they were sharing.

“Gavin?” he said, leaning into DIP’s body with a contented hum, “thank you.”

Gavin snorted.

“Whatever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> connor: i love this one *kisses coffee bean*  
> connor: i love this one *kisses dip*  
> connor: i love this one *kisses norp*  
> connor: i love this one *kisses bolo*  
> connor: and i love this one *kisses gavin*
> 
> gavin: stOP wHAT aRE YOu DOING?!?!


	3. and so it keeps going, christ, will it ever end

**O’MANSLEY DONUTS**  
**12.07PM**

“So, when is Nines coming out with us?” Tina asked, bending over to carefully inspect the selection of donuts before her.

Gavin folded his arms and grunted at her, staring morosely out of the window.

Tina could see him in the reflection of the donut case and clucked her tongue. She stood up and pursed her lips, peering over her shoulder at the detective. Gavin was her dearest friend, but he could also be incredibly mean and awfully petty at times – it’s why she had to drag him out of the bullpen to go donut dashing.

The man had almost come to blows with Officer Person when she made a suggestive comment about Connor staying the night at Gavin’s place over the weekend – Tina wasn’t exactly sure what the woman had said, but she knew the general gist involved the officer implying something unsavoury about the relationship between her two friends.

Then Gavin had made a cutting comment about her boyfriend cheating on her.

Naturally, it then descended into a screaming match which ended abruptly when Officer Person made the disparaging remark that Gavin was just using Connor as a glorified sex doll.

It had taken both Chris and Connor to keep Hank placated, whereas Tina had dragged Gavin out of the precinct, cursing and kicking, before Fowler could snatch his badge from him.

Now, Gavin was still sulking, glaring out of the shop’s window with a dark glint in his eye.

The last time Tina had seen that look was when Angie had broken up with her – Gavin had loaded up his gun and stormed out of her place with a stream of curses echoing after him. Tina had been scared shitless until he had sent her proof that he had just gone home and had locked his gun away. His anger had been solved by multiple sessions of Cat Therapy, followed by seven hours of Call of Duty.

Seeing that dark look again sent a shiver down her spine and she had no cats at her disposal.

Time to improvise.

“Hey,” Tina called out softly, frowning when Gavin threw her a sour glance, “talk to me.”

He scoffed. “Ain’t fuck-all to talk about,” he replied gruffly, “why are we even here? Thought you were eating healthy?”

Tina rolled her eyes. “ _Shannon_ wants me to eat healthy – _Tina_ wants to eat three lemon drizzle donuts, don’t skimp on the drizzle,” she instructed in an aside to the lady behind the counter. The woman was staring at her customers, wide-eyed and a touch wary – she nodded at Tina and quickly went about packing up Tina’s order. Tina shot her a bright smile. “Thanks! Now, do you want a donut?” she asked Gavin.

He shrugged in response.

Tina rolled her eyes.

“Can I have a white-chocolate cheesecake supreme, please?” she asked the lady behind the counter. The woman, whose nametag said: ‘ _hello, please call me RHONA_ ’ in cheery text, nodded hurriedly and swept over to the donut case to pack away the extra donut.

Gavin snorted. “You think a donut is gonna make me feel better?” he asked dryly.

Tina lifted a brow slowly. “You want me to get the nice lady to put it back?” she asked sardonically.

“No,” Gavin replied quickly.

Tina shot him a mocking grin. “Good answer,” she remarked, turning to hand her card over to the woman, Rhona, behind the counter. Rhona took it hesitantly, eyeing the two officers before her with a small amount of concern in her eyes. Tina just batted her lashes and waited patiently for Rhona to finish the transaction. As she waited, she took out her phone and took a quick photo of the display case and sent it to Chris’ wife, Kate. Their mutual love for baked goods kept their relationship strong and it _had_ been a while since she had sent the woman a quality donut photo.

She heard Gavin huff behind her, but she paid him no attention – the boy needed to calm the fuck down and she would only make it worse. Probably. Instead, Tina pocketed her phone and lazily perused the rest of the stock behind the glass case.

They had been coming to O’Mansley Donuts for years – when shit hit the fan, or when life became too much, Tina or Gavin would drag the other out of whatever shitty situation they were in and indulge in a little sugar therapy. Not as successful as Cat Therapy, according to Gavin, but it was a nice temporary fix.

She sighed as she took in all the different flavours: peanut-butter and banana, gingerbread and cranberry, plain and glazed, chocolate oran—

“Oh _shit_ … is that a _thirium_ donut?” Tina gaped, spying the bright blue donut with wide eyes, “shit, how do you bake with that? I’ve been trying to make my girlfriend thirium cupcakes for weeks!”

Rhona blinked. “Um,” she uttered, flushing brightly, “I don’t bake them? They come frozen?”

Tina pouted.

“Aw, how am I supposed to spoil my cute girlfriend with cute cupcakes if she can’t even eat them?” she asked, sighing lamentingly.

Gavin flicked her hard on the ear. Tina batted at him.

“You’re outgaying yourself,” he remarked, faintly disgusted, “now get a fucking move on, I have evidence to fucking process.”

Tina rolled her eyes and took her card back from Rhona, nodding to the woman as she handed over two small boxes. Tina took one and slammed it into Gavin’s gut – the man choked and cursed as he took the box from her, kicking at her childishly.

“Thank you,” Tina trilled, tucking her box under her arm as she pushed Gavin away from her. Rhona just shot her a terrified grin and waved shakily.

Tina guessed that she had to be new – no one else was fazed by their bullshit.

“If that kid expects to keep her job, she needs to quicken the fuck up,” Gavin remarked, once they were out of the store. Tina elbowed him none too gently.

“Don’t be a dick,” she instructed, popping the lid off her box and taking out a donut, “I _like_ her.”

Gavin rolled his eyes, taking his own donut out of his box. “You like every fucking girl you see,” he retorted, “you need to stop thinking with your fucking clit.”

A small family passing by them gasped sharply, the father shooting Gavin a poisonous glare as he herded his two young children away. Gavin flipped him off as the man stormed away.

Tina sighed and shook her head. “I literally cannot take you anywhere,” she said mournfully.

“Should’ve fucking left me at work then,” Gavin hissed back through a mouthful of donut, the cheesecake filling flooding his mouth and dripping over his lips. Tina clucked her tongue, reaching over with a finger to scoop up the messy filling – she popped it into her mouth and wrinkled her nose as the saccharine flavour.

“Gross,” Tina stated, taking a bite out of her own sharply tart donut to drown out the taste, “and I could’ve left you at work, but then Fowler would’ve made me clean up Person’s mess.”

“The fuck does that mean?” Gavin demanded, indignant.

“It means Person would’ve wiped the goddamn floor with you,” Tina chortled, meringue spraying from her mouth as she laughed at the offended expression on his face. In a fit of childish rage, Gavin opened his mouth, showing off the mess inside, and advanced upon Tina. She shrieked and batted him away, dropping some of her donut in the process. “You’re so fucking gross, I can’t believe Nines wants to kiss that face.”

Gavin’s mouth snapped shut, joy evaporating immediately.

“Okay,” he said, swallowing roughly, “first of all, fuck you, I could _totally_ take Person. Second of all, fuck you, times two, because Nines doesn’t want to kiss my face so fuck you a third time for bringing that up.”

Tina rolled her eyes. “All this denial is gonna make you ill,” she advised, watching as Gavin sneered in response. “I’m serious, you can’t fight for shit and Nines definitely wants to kiss you all over. All. Over.”

“And I want to shoot you, all over. All. Over,” he mocked her in return.

Tina snorted as she took another bite, choking slightly to dislodge the lemon frosting in her throat. Gavin thumped her hard on the back and she winced, nodding her thanks to him weakly.

Clearing her throat, she cast her friend a searching gaze.

“So, you gonna answer my question?” she asked, arching a brow.

“What fucking question?” Gavin asked, frowning as he threw his hands up in the air at her non sequitur.

“Nines – is he gonna come out with us soon or not?” Tina clarified with a wink.

Gavin sighed, taking a large bite of donut to avoid having to answer the question straight away. Tina watched him patiently as he chewed over the baked good – Gavin mulled over her question and wondered how he could possibly answer her without raising more questions.

He swallowed and forced himself to look into Tina’s imploring eyes.

“I… fuck, he ain’t gonna come out with us,” he muttered, rolling his shoulders back uncomfortably, “the asshole probably thinks he’s too good for us.”

“Have you asked him?” Tina asked knowingly, “‘cause it sounds like you actually haven’t asked him and are too scared to do so.”

“Fuck off,” Gavin said tiredly, glancing away from her to peer down the street. It was a twenty-minute walk from the precinct to the donut shop; enough time for him to ponder why his life was just so fucked, yet not long enough for him to no longer wish death upon Person.

God. She was the worst kinda person.

“I’m trying to help you,” Tina stressed, “if you keep pushing him away then you’re going to die alone!”

“Everyone dies alone!”

“But you don’t have to _live_ alone!”

“I have four cats!”

“Are you even listening to yourself?”

They had come to a standstill, hissing at each other heatedly and uncaring of the sour looks they were gaining. Tina’s cheeks were puffed up from donuts and anger, whereas Gavin had his hands on his hips and cheesecake clinging to his stubble. They glared at each other, unblinking, waiting for the other to submit.

As always, Gavin was the first to break.

“Fuck off,” he snapped mulishly and turned away to take another moody bite out of his donut. Tina smirked smugly as they carried on walking back to the precinct, a slight skip in her step at having won their staring contest for the eighth time that week.

Gavin sighed, sulking as he lapped at the frosting that had dripped down his fingers. Tina kept casting him inquiring glances, which slowly turned into concerned glances when Gavin’s pout became more pronounced.

“You okay?” she asked, slightly hesitant, nudging at his arm softly with an elbow.

Gavin just shrugged and frowned at his donut.

Tina pursed her lips.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so bereft,” she stated, worry colouring her tone slightly.

Gavin pursed his lips. “I’m just tired of life and existing; also, bereft is a great fucking word,” he noted, truly impressed with her vocabulary.

Tina nodded. “I plan on using it at least three more times this week,” she confided, taking another bite with flourish.

Gavin nodded his approval and hummed as he popped the last piece of donut into his mouth.

“So, you got a busy day?” Tina asked, placing her half-eaten donut atop the box to brush away the crumbs from her lips. Gavin sighed, throwing his box away into a nearby bin – just thinking about all the work he had to do was enough to give him a migraine.

He held up his hand and began numbering off his tasks using his fingers. “One, review the evidence gathered from Marco’s bases. Two, go over the anonymous confession we received, again. Three, question Jordi. Four, contact Ivrina for updates on the kids. Five, ask Fowler to get out my ass and let me get on with my damn job—”

“—six, politely ask Nines to get _into_ your ass?” Tina added, a cheeky grin playing on her lips.

 _I could push her into the street,_ Gavin though distantly, _probably won’t get arrested for it. Definitely got provoked, captain, I swear and—oh shit. Is this how Fowler feels?_

“Please, get out of my life,” he sighed instead, feeling altogether exhausted and irritated.

Tina snorted and elbowed him in the side, unfazed by his sour attitude or his dismissive words.

“You’d be _so_ bored without me,” she said, knowingly, “ _and_ , if you do kill me, then I won’t leave you my bomber jacket – the one with _all_ the pins.”

Gavin blanched. Tina’s bomber jacket was an abomination and an offense to society as a whole. It was fifteen years old and was missing the entire left sleeve and collar; she treated it as a security blanket during her time at the academy and had worn it on almost every single night out with Gavin. It was also covered in pins and badges, some not even legible.

The worst part? It was the ugliest colour… it was like bright yellow and lime green had joined together in the unholiest of unions and spat out whatever shade Tina’s jacket was supposed to be.

Gavin barked out a disbelieving laugh. “When,” he began, incredulous, “have I _ever_ expressed a goddamn interest in your shitty-ass bomber jacket?”

“No, no,” Tina crooned, patting him mockingly on the face, “I know it’s embarrassing for you to admit it, but I’ve seen the way you eye it and I _get_ it; it’s fucking great.”

“If you ever catch me looking at it, it’s because I’m questioning the sanity of whoever fucking designed it. And I _really_ don’t want it,” Gavin insisted.

“I know you Gavin,” Tina stated, smirking at him, “and lying is a terrible habit.”

“I _don’t_ want it,” Gavin repeated hotly, but Tina had already skipped ahead, shooting him a lazy salute as she swept past him.

Gavin sighed and allowed his head to fall back, staring upwards tiredly – his eyes flicked over the sky, searching for a sign that shit was going to get better. Instead, he found an incredibly grey cloud slowly crawling across Detroit and two pigeons fighting it out in the air.

Or maybe they were trying to mate?

God. Even pigeons were getting more action than him.

“Today’s gonna suck,” Gavin decided, just as it began to rain.

* * *

**THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**3.25PM**

_Someone pick up the phone,_ Gavin thought bitterly, _because I fucking called it._

“Look, please yell at me later,” he sighed tiredly to the android beside him.

Ivrina had stormed into the precinct mere seconds after Gavin and Tina had returned, a fierce spark in her eyes and a snarl on her lips. People rushed to escape her warpath, sending Gavin inquisitive glances as the android marched up to him.

Tina seemed torn between concern for her friend and admiration for the incredibly pretty woman in her immediate vicinity.

 _Useless fucking lesbian_ , Gavin thought distantly as he gathered up Jordi’s casefile and tucked it under his arm.

“Detective Reed,” Ivrina stated, her tone frosty and her eyes hard, “I really need to speak with you regarding your partner's conduct with young victims—”

Gavin waved at her dismissively.

“It was an accident, he didn’t mean it, okay? _Fuck_ , hey, I have a perp to grill, so if you could come back and— I don’t know, make an appointment with Nora, Fowler’s assistant,” he suggested, trying hard to keep his tone cordial and failing, “she’s a tight-assed bitch too, you’ll get along just fine.”

He had meant to mutter it under his breath, but judging by the way Ivrina’s eyes flashed dangerously, he had also failed at that. It didn’t help that her eyes now matched the red LED set into her temple.

“Detective, please watch your tongue around me,” she said, her tone delicate and sharp, “I am trying to _help_ you, you do not want to make an enemy out of me.”

“Duly fucking noted,” Gavin sighed, too tired to even attempt being civil at this point. He glanced over the bullpen, his eyes lighting up when he saw Nines beckoning him. He nodded to the android who took off towards the interrogation room without him; Gavin felt instantly heavier without the android’s presence. “Now, I have an asshole to interrogate, so please, feel free to come back.” He brushed past her with his casefile tucked under his arm. “Or don’t, see if I give a shit.”

He knew his words would come back to bite him later, but Gavin was in a rush to get into the interrogation room. With the extra information supplied to him by Angela, he truly felt as if he was on the edge of solving his case. Gavin was so goddamn near to closing his whole investigation – he could worry about pissing off important people later.

Absently, he heard Tina introduce Ivrina to Fowler’s assistant and knew that, on some level, his life was totally fucked from here on out.

He strode down the corridor towards the interrogation room and found Nines waiting for him patiently outside the one housing Jordi. The android had his hands clasped behind his back and an impassive expression written across his face. Gavin paused, his eyes slowly raking over the android’s form – despite Nines’ wardrobe amounting to a grand total of one outfit, he really pulled it off.

 _I really want to pull it off_ , Gavin thought, resuming his steady stride as he greeted Nines with a two-fingered salute.

“Ready?” he asked briskly.

“As always,” Nines replied, stepping aside to allow Gavin to enter the room first.

When they walked in, Jordi immediately snorted and rolled his eyes. He leaned back in his chair until he balanced carefully on the back two legs – his lawyer has been provided for him, as Marco’s lawyer had dropped him like a hot potato after Jordi’s bail had been refused; Gavin wasn’t 100% sure of the specifics, but somehow, Marco had been made aware of Angela’s confession… as such, the mob boss had been encouraged by his lawyer to distance himself from all his previous partners and contacts.

Not like it was going to do much good now.

“Afternoon Jordi,” Gavin greeted, throwing the file onto the table and then himself onto his seat. Nines nodded and took his place behind Gavin, standing silently but observing everything with a keen eye.

“Ah, hello, my name is Nick Carter, I will be representing Mister Peters throughout the duration of this case,” he held out a hand to Gavin, who in turn eyed it with an arched brow.

“‘Sup,” Gavin replied, pointedly refusing to take the man’s hand; instead, he span the file around and began flipping through it until he landed on Marco’s face, “just to catch you up on the bullshit that was Jordi’s last interrogation: this fuckface lied and said he had no idea who Marco was. Which, as I said before, is a giant fucking lie.”

“You’re being incredibly unprofessio—” Nick began, but Nines held up a hand.

“Please, review your priorities at this point,” the android said, and Gavin shivered at the authoritative tone, “the man beside you has been accused of collaborating with a known criminal, who has been arrested for android trafficking. Jordi Peters has refused to admit that he is a member of Marco Arnette’s inner circle, whose job was to transport androids from Marco’s base of operations to—”

“These are all unfounded allegations,” Nick interjected, holding up his own hand with a cool glint in his eye, “have you asked my client why there was a kid in the back of his car?”

“Obviously,” Gavin gritted out, “but your asshole-client refuses to give us a straight answer.”

“My client, Jordan Peters,” Nick stressed, “has informed me that though the van was his and though he was aware of the child being inside, it was not his intention to traffic her. It was a simple kidnapping as he intended on holding her for ransom. He was in cahoots with Marco Arnette, he was selling her to someone else – no one else was involved.”

“Bullshit!” Gavin snapped, “bull-fuckin’-shit! You were driving her to the Port of Detroit, you _knew_ what you were doing with her, you were getting paid by Marco to ferry her across and—”

“Where is your proof,” Nick interrupted again, drawing the ire of Gavin immediately – they would have solid proof if they could find Marco’s tablet, but… it was missing and they were fucked and now, with this smarmy-ass lawyer berating him, Gavin could only get angry. It was only when Nines placed a hand on his shoulder that he settled back and allowed the lawyer to continue, “from where I’m sat, you’re just flinging baseless accusations in a desperate attempt to link my client to a suspect, who might I add, you also have no solid evidence against!”

“We have multiple pieces of evidence across three bases belonging to Marco, from items of clothing to pieces of DNA,” Nines retorted coolly, “there is clear evidence of Jordi being an accomplice to Marco’s scheme – evidence that demonstrates that he did this of his own volition and was not coerced in any way, shape or form. You were provided the file outlining this information, you should already know this.”

“What I read and what I found,” Nick remarked, leaning back in his chair, “was that you have no clear evidence of Jordi being involved in the trafficking scheme.”

“He had a _kid_ in his van!” Gavin snapped.

“Who he admits to _kidnapping_ for ransom,” Nick stressed, “honestly, you should take—”

Gavin slammed a hand down onto the table, making Nick jump and Jordi snort.

“Listen, Marco’s maid has already confessed and we’re in the process of bring the big man himself into our custody, so just fuckin’ confess and we can move on with our lives,” he instructed hotly, his back aching and his head pounding from exhaustion, “she’s given us substantial evidence that the pair have worked together so don’t even start this bullshit again!”

Jordi reared up, his eyes narrow and suspicious.

“That bitch said what?” he demanded, speaking up for the first time as he leaned towards Gavin’s with a faint snarl playing on his lips. Gavin was surprised and sat up, folding his arms.

“Angela?” he corrected, pointedly, “she confessed to you being associated with Marco.”

“Her word against his,” Nick stated firmly, “it would hold no weight in court.”

“Nah, nah, fuck that!” Jordi spat, “that bitch thinks she can just shift all this shit onto me? Fuck that noise—”

“Jordan.”

“—nah man, screw the ‘droid! She thinks she can screw us over—”

“ _Jordan_.”

“—piece of fucking plastic _shit_ —”

“Can I please put this interrogation on hold, I need to speak to my client,” Nick announced, loud and clear, cutting across Jordi’s rant cleanly. Jordi blinked and scowled, folding his arms as he slumped down into his chair. Gavin flicked a glance over his shoulder to Nines, wordlessly inquiring the android’s opinion – in response, Nines subtly nodded at him and swept out of the room, holding the door open for Gavin to follow.

“We’ll finish this up in half an hour,” he said, taking back his file and standing away from the table, “you should use this time to get your goddamn story straight.”

He left the room and had a minor heart-attack when he found Ivrina standing outside with a stern expression on her face and two thick folders tucked firmly under an arm. Nines closed the door behind him, just as Nick turned to Jordi and began berating him on his poor etiquette during the interrogation – their voices disappeared behind the door, leaving a tense silence to blossom between the three people in the hallway.

Ivrina pointedly arched a thin brow and Gavin had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes – he cocked his head at the woman before him and shrugged.

“Ivrina,” he greeted in a drawling tone, “still here I see.”

Ivrina’s expression didn’t flicker once; her impenetrable gaze slowly drifted from Gavin to Nines, who stood beside his partner silently.

“I made an appointment with your captain’s assistant – she does not sing your praises well,” Ivrina stated, her amber eyes were narrow and cold, “I wonder why.”

“If you made an appointment, then why stick around?” Gavin asked, wrinkling his nose slightly.

“To pass you these,” Ivrina said, handing over two thick files, one had AURELIA HAMPTON printed on it, the other read TAMRON KYLE, “their full psychological evaluation, physical status and all the documentation you need to legally use this evidence in court. I was _trying_ to hand these to you before, but you weren’t exactly in the mood to be receiving vital pieces of evidence.”

Gavin took the files and clucked his tongue.

“Look, I’m so—”

“As I was trying to say before,” Ivrina cut him off silkily, “you can only use these files if you stay within the parameters of the agreement established between the DPD and Tamron Kyle’s family. The moment you even think about approaching the family, these can and will be thrown out. I am sorry, I understand what occurred was an accident, but in his fragile state, it is an accident we cannot afford to make again. He is a child and he should not have consented to the probe; I should have been there, or his parents at the least, before something that invasive occurs. I hope you understand.”

Gavin clenched his jaw and fists, the documents crumpling under his fingers. At least Ivrina was aware that it was a goddamn accident, but _still_. He wanted to say something, but pride or whatever kept him from saying anything. At the least, it sounded like their relationship with her wasn’t totally fucked. 

Tina probably apologised for him again.

Fuck. Now he owes her _another_ favour.

“We understand clearly,” Nines answered for him, “thank you for supplying us with these.”

Ivrina inclined her head towards him. “You’re welcome,” she said, and in Gavin’s opinion, it was the warmest she had ever sounded. “Now, incidentally your case is not the only one I am working on – so, if you’ll excuse me.”

She gave them another icy appraisal, before she turned and marched down the corridor.

“Oh,” Ivrina paused in her step and peered back at Gavin, “I was told to inform you that Detective Connor has been called out. The bodies of two androids have been pulled out of Detroit River. A TR400 model? Along with an EM400 unit? He said to not worry, as he will cover for you and brief you upon his return.”

She then turned neatly on her heel and sauntered out of the corridor.

Gavin was acutely aware that he would have to apologise to her at some point, or at least, extend some kind of olive branch. He often forgot that he wasn’t the only one stressed out by the cases he worked on… and Ivrina _has_ been a massive help. 

Shit.

Did androids like flowers?

“The androids that died—” Nines began, but he was cut off by Gavin cursing loudly.

“Fuck – it’s those fuckers, right? It’s gotta be, goddamn it! Who the fuck could possibly… how does anyone ever know to off those fucks? I mean, it’s too goddamn coincidental, right? Like, a TR400 and an EM400 model just _happened_ to be kidnapping kids and when we finally get somewhere, a TR400 and an EM400 model just _happen_ to fucking die? This is some high-grade, next-level _bullshit_!”

“—indeed, detective,” Nines sighed, before he moved to stand opposite his partner, “this is most. _Unusual_.”

Gavin scoffed. “No need to sound so fucking awed,” he muttered sullenly.

They fell into silence, with only Jordi’s muffled curses filling the quiet air around them. Gavin began flipping through the files, wincing when he scanned through Tamron’s psyche eval – poor kid had night-terrors, refused to be touched and now had an abject fear of male-presenting individuals. Shit. He closed the file and knew that karmic retribution was literally waiting for him around the corner.

Gavin then took the moment to glance through Aurelia’s file – she seemed to be doing better than Tamron… though she still refused to use her synthetic skin, she was more amenable to being touched. She was frightened of the dark, however, and always needed to have her parents in her line of vision. He worried his lip between his teeth as he snapped the file shut.

This was such bullshit – how is it, then when they finally take one step forward, they end up getting knocked ten steps back?

Gavin sighed and glanced up at his partner; concern began to grow as he watched Nines’ LED as it span rapidly in a cycle of yellow. It never really signified anything good, but Gavin was slightly glad that he wasn’t the only one freaking out about the recent developments of their case.

“Talk to me,” he prompted, nudging Nines’ shoe gently, “what’s going on up there.”

“I’m simply processing Jordi’s reaction to when you revealed Angela confessing. I think we may have missed something truly vital about this case,” Nines said deliberately, gazing down the corridor with an almost thoughtful expression.

“Yeah, well,” Gavin shrugged, “dude’s been cornered, now he’s fucked. No shit he’d throw a fucking fit over Angela signing his death sentence.”

“He’d hardly be in the position of receiving the death penalty,” Nines commented mildly.

“It’s just an expression,” Gavin explained tiredly, rubbing at the scar on his nose, “seriously though, the guy was just pissed ‘cause now he can’t fucking lie anymore—” he was interrupted by a loud bang coming from the interrogation room; they both paused to glance at the door, before they returned back to their conversation, “—see, the bastard is losing it. They always come tumbling down when they get emotional – it’s great.”

Nines tilted his head, considering. “I think he will confess to something, but it won’t be his own admission of guilt,” Nines stated, his LED slowly spinning to a stop. Gavin watched it and folded his arms.

“Care to share with the class?” Gavin asked, kicking at Nines again, but with greater force.

Nines clasped his hands behind his back and glanced up and down the corridor briefly; he then took a step forward, closer to Gavin; the detective guessed it was so they could speak quieter, to avoid being eavesdropped on, but still – the sudden proximity has every hair on his body standing on edge and Gavin swallowed when Nines’ piercing eyes gazed down at him. Though he wasn’t pinned against any surface, Gavin still felt as though he was unable to move, to step back and escape Nines’ attention.

“There are multiple issues with this case. For example, the anonymous tip sent into Officer Miller – inexplicably untraceable to the point where the author is unknown, even to myself. It was certainly coincidental that the tip was sent in during the same evening where we were supposed to contact Marco himself,” Nines began, his voice low and his words quick. Gavin blinked and subconsciously leaned in closer. “To add an even murkier layer to this whole scenario, why would Angela contact us now? After all, it became public knowledge that Marco was our prime suspect the same night he was arrested – why would she only come forward now?”

Gavin cocked his head, frowning as he slowly registered Nines’ words.

“She was scared,” Gavin supplied slowly, though his words were coated in a thick layer of doubt. “She said she was scared and that she… regretted taking too long to talk to us.”

Nines hummed and nodded.

“Indeed,” he said, “that is what she _said_.”

Gavin blinked, the puzzle pieces slowly slotting into place.

“Here’s another question: if Marco is so against androids, why allow one to keep his home? Why not pass it over to his other, _human_ , acquaintances? And even then, Angela informed us that androids don’t even ‘blip on his radar’. If that’s true, then how did he come to arrive at the idea of trafficking them?” Nines asked, and Gavin began drumming his fingers along his casefile.

“‘Cause it’d be easier than trafficking human kids?” he suggested, shrugging, “‘Cause he’s a _sick_ _fuck_ who chases the thrill of carrying out illegal shit, so what?”

Nines loomed further over him, leaning closer into Gavin’s body; the detective could almost see the faint freckles that had no purpose on the android’s face, and yet Cyberlife still deemed it necessary to design him that way.

“What if he _wasn’t_ going to traffic androids – what if he was considering trafficking humans, but someone persuaded him to look into androids,” Nines said, his tone steady and considering, “playing on his prejudices whilst also gaining a degree of trust to be allowed insight into his inner circle and operations.”

“Aw fuck – okay, let’s start at the goddamn beginning. We can’t figure out the identity of the anonymous tipper, because…” Gavin trailed off, gesturing for Nines to finish.

“It was sent in from an untraceable source. Officer Miller made an attempt, but we could only identify the font used in the letter,” Nines dutifully filled in.

“Which was…?” Gavin prompted.

“Cyberlife Sans,” Nines stated, “so it is entirely possible that an _android_ sent in the tip.”

“Or someone who can imitate the font, or has it downloaded, whatever,” Gavin suggested, because he lived for playing devil’s advocate.

“My statistical analysis suggests that it is most likely an android.”

Gavin cursed softly under his breath – he drummed his fingers harder as he mentally connected the dots. The anonymous tip was possibly written by an android, Marco had never even considered trafficking androids until prompted and… and—

“Aw fuck,” Gavin sighed deeply, “you think it’s fucking Angela.”

Nines nodded and he looked almost proud.

“Exactly,” he confirmed, “I surmise her motive may be wishing to take over Marco’s many business ventures. If Lorna left her the house, who’s to say she didn't leave her anything else? Perhaps the clubs, the money, everything else? It is week documented that Lorna and Marco did not get along. Who’s to say, out of spite, that Lorna wouldn’t leave everything to her maid? I checked over the records and Lorna bought Angela two years ago – that’s enough time to establish a relationship, trust… a way to spite her son and ensure that her empire is left in good hands.”

Gavin nodded along and tapped the file in his hands.

“Right, so,” he said thoughtfully, “so… let me connect some fucking dots here.” He held up his hands and began gesticulating as he spoke. “Lorna hires Angela. Angela gets an insight into some dodgy Arnette family shit and learns the ins and outs of the trade. Then boom: revolution happens. Angela becomes deviant and realises she wants a piece of the dodgy Arnette family shit. Lorna dies. Angela gets fucking _everything_ in the will, allegedly? But then Marco steps in and treats her like a machine and steals some of her inheritance from under her. Angela gets pissed and… _helps_ Marco out? Fuck. I’m missing something, help a guy out – not all of us are built with goddamn supercomputers in our fucking heads.”

Nines held up a hand. “There may be something more, but from what I can gather, if Angela helps Marco out, it would provide her with a scapegoat should things go south. Then she leaves enough breadcrumbs behind that we get led to Marco. Then, when we finally arrest Marco, the media picks the story up.”

Gavin started bouncing on the balls of his feet, excitement slowly spreading throughout his veins.

“Yeah, yeah. So, the story gets out that we arrested Marco. Angela hears about and she wants to know what where we’re up to in the case, calls us with a confession to make—”

“—finds out we know about androids assisting Marco—"

“—and what? You think she has something to do with those androids that turned up dead?”

Nines nodded. “Perhaps – she doesn’t appear to be the type to do her own dirty work however,” he mused, “plus, she is not equipped with the physical prowess that would allow her to take down a TR400 unit.”

“So… she has her own helpers then or what?” Gavin asked, before a frustrated frown flickered across his face, “fuck, fuck, _fuck_. Wait. So… why fuck over her own kind?”

“Why do humans destroy other humans?” Nines asked coolly.

“Huh,” Gavin blinked, “right, okay. Tou-fucking-ché – but why confess and let us know that Jordi and Marco are working together? And… why wouldn’t they just tell us that this is all her fucking show?”

“Marco is a narcissist who hates androids – he would never allow someone else to take the glory. As for the others, they’re probably unaware of how involved she is. If she controlled them via mere suggestion and manipulation, then they may not even know that she orchestrated the whole operation,” Nines suggested, glancing behind Gavin to the door leading to Jordi’s interrogation room.

“Fuck me,” Gavin moaned.

Nines’ eyes almost glowed. “Indeed,” he murmured, and Gavin felt his entire being react to that word; his nerves were on fire and he felt every hair stand on edge. He swallowed and knew that, as Nines’ eyes slowly raked over his form, he was being scanned and his arousal was probably being broadcast in high-definition.

He cleared his throat and took a healthy step back; his gaze skittered away from Nines’ face and he ran a hand through his hair. “You know,” he began hesitantly, “this is a _hell_ of a theory, right? And we’re gonna need more than ‘android intuition’ to get Fowler on our side? We can’t just… fuckin’ go and arrest her because we connected a few fucking dots and bam, there’s Angela’s goddamn face.”

Nines nodded amicably. “I understand,” he said, “but I believe Jordi can help us with that. Fear not Detective Reed, I don’t believe the good captain will be that much of an obstacle to deal with.”

Gavin snorted. “Thank fuck, like I have the energy to argue with that bastard,” he scoffed.

“Your disdain for authoritative figures is noted,” Nines stated, before he gestured to the interrogation room, “now, shall we return?”

Nodding, Gavin marched back into the interrogation room without alerting the occupants first. Jordi jumped and clutched at his chest, a slew of curses spilling from his lips as he glared heatedly at Gavin. Nick merely sighed with irritation and watched as Gavin threw himself back into his seat, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“We haven’t fini—” Nick began, but Gavin clucked his tongue and slammed his files back onto the desk. Nines closed the door and returned to his previous position of standing impassively behind Gavin.

“So,” Gavin drawled, “let’s talk _Angela_.”

Jordi blinked and snorted.

“The fuck do you wanna know about her?” he asked, slouching in his seat as he ignored Nick’s warning glance, “she’s a fuckin’ snitch is what she is.”

“Is that all? ‘Cause something tells me she’s more than a snitch,” Gavin prodded, “something tells me that she does more for Marco that dust his mother’s house.”

Jordi wrinkled his nose. “They ain’t fuckin’,” he insisted crudely, “she ain’t his type.”

Gavin was aware of the slight whirring noise that emitted from the android behind him and knew exactly what Nines was thinking. Angela wasn’t Marco’s type – but Gavin sure as fuck was.

Biting back a grin, Gavin focused his attention of the prick in front of him.

“No? You sure she’s not just a maid?” he suggested, trying to choose his words carefully to avoid leading Jordi into a false confession. It would be pretty shitty for him to encourage Jordi into lying about Angela – especially after all the bullshit he had gone through to get here.

Jordi glowered in return. “I ain’t a snitch,” he spat. Gavin barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes – they seemed to be Jordi’s favourite four words to snap out. Still though, it was a good start; Angela must’ve done something worthy enough for Jordi to resist spilling the truth.

“So, she is more than a maid?” Gavin asked.

“I ain’t a snitch!”

“You know you’re telling me more shit than you think.”

“I ain’t a _goddamn_ snitch, so get off my _dick_!”

“Jordi,” Nick snapped hurriedly.

Gavin felt more than heard Nines sigh behind him.

“Listen kid, ain’t there some fuckin’, I don’t know, snitch’s code where if you snitch on a snitch, then all that bad karma just cancels shit out?” Gavin asked tiredly.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Jordi asked, “that’s not how that shit even works.”

“Oh, so there _is_ a snitch’s code? Nines, can you believe this _shit_?”

“Detective Reed, please remember why we’re here.”

“I ain’t saying shit about Angela, and you can’t fuckin’ make me!”

“Oh, you sure about that, prick?”

“ _Enough_ ,” Nick cut across the bickering with one firm word. He leant across to Jordi and began whispering heatedly in his ear. Gavin glanced back at Nines, whose LED was slowly spinning yellow – the android could probably hear whatever it was that lawyer was saying and, in that moment, Gavin was overtaken by simmering envy.

He turned back to Nick and Jordi – Jordi was furiously shaking his head and Nick was scowling, clearly ignoring whatever Jordi had to say. Jordi was muttering curses under his breath and then, without warning, threw himself back into his chair and folded his arms petulantly.

Nick gazed at him steadily before he turned back to Gavin with a decisive gleam in his eye.

“We will confess to knowing Angela’s involvement,” he said, with an air of finality, “ _if_ it gets Jordi a reduced sentence.”

“You fuckin’ what?” Jordi asked, outraged as his head snapped back to glare at Nick, but he was easily ignored.

“You confess to knowing Angela and you’re basically implicating yourself as an accessory,” Nines remarked, eyeing Jordi with a shrewd gleam in his eye, “if you reveal Angela as the true brain behind this operation, that she was the one pulling Marco’s strings, then who’s to say they won’t throw you under the bus?”

“Oh, they fuckin’ will,” Jordi bitterly spat, “ _literally_!”

Nick ignored him. “Of course, he will be implicated – however, should you bring up the fact that he was compliant and gave you the information you requested of him, then his sentence will be reduced. We are looking at five years, maximum.”

Gavin snorted and threw Nines a sly look. “This asshole reckons he can get five years, _maximum_. You’re full of shit, y’know?”

“Deal,” Nines stated firmly, clearly ignoring the choked gasp of betrayal that emitted from his partner.

“Are you serious—”

“Five years in a maximum-security prison is an awfully long time for a young human,” Nines remarked, directing his attention to Gavin, “it is a painless deal to make when we get his cooperation in return. His confession will help us secure—”

“He’s a goddamn criminal—”

“Who will pay the price, think of the bigger picture—”

“Fuck your bigger pic—”

“Whilst this display of professionalism is, indeed, inspiring,” Nick interrupted loudly, his eyes flicking between the pair before him irritably, “I would also like to ensure Jordan’s safety whilst incarcerated.”

Nines blinked – Gavin could tell he was annoyed about being interrupted; his LED was doing the yellow-red-red-yellow dance it did whenever he was adjusting to mildly irritating situations. Inwardly, it made Gavin slightly smug to see such a human reaction from the uptight android, if only because his shitty deal with Nick left Gavin oddly betrayed. Still, he couldn’t get too irritated by Nines’ decision… he did have a point about the prison, after all, and it would help the case progress quicker, so Gavin decided to quell his anger for once. Besides, his nerves were already too prickled by Nick’s superior-ass attitude – the guy was too smug for defending a rat like Jordi.

“Understandable,” the android noted, “inmates will not be kind to him once they are made aware of his actions.”

“Snitches get stitches,” Jordi agreed, scowling from his chair.

“Sometimes it’s justified,” Gavin sniped, rolling his eyes when Nick glared at him pointedly, “oh fucking – I’ll look into getting him some protection until the trial is over.”

“What?” Jordi snapped, “the fuck do you mean ‘until the trial is over’?” He did a poor imitation of Gavin’s voice. “You think I won’t get shanked the second it gets out that I snitched on Marco?”

“That’s the best I can do, take it or leave it,” Gavin stated, fully confident that Nick wouldn’t push for anything more. Lawyers like him always knew when to back down before they got too greedy.

“We’ll take it,” Nick said, and Gavin had to hide his smirk behind a hand. Hook, line and fucking sinker. Jordi instantly reared up, fire in his eyes as he turned on his lawyer. Gavin could feel the fury rippling from the asshole in front of him and peered over his shoulder to waggle his brows at Nines.

His partner appeared to understand the silent suggestion – Nines reached across to scoop up the casefile and stalked out of the room, opening the door and leaving with mechanical precision. Gavin watched him with thinly veiled amusement; Jordi and Nick were hissing at each other and, after watching the show for mere seconds, Gavin decided to follow Nines out of the room. Just as he closed the door on them, Jordi spat ‘you bitch-faced wankshaft’ at Nick and Gavin made a mental note to use that insult in the near future.

Probably towards Hank.

Preferably without Connor around to hear it.

He turned away from the interrogation room to find Nines waiting patiently for him, the casefile tucked firmly under one arm. The android’s LED was yellow, and his eyes almost looked glazed over – it was the kinda look that Gavin had associated with the android sending a text or an email.

He guessed the android was probably updating the FBI on the whole Angela situation.

Gavin arched a brow and leant against the wall, waiting for Nines to check back into planet earth. The LED slowly span back to a steady blue, the android blinking as he slowly registered Gavin standing before him – Gavin tilted his head and quirked a brow.

“Welcome back,” he greeted dryly.

“The director is, understandably, rather frustrated by the development in the case and has… suggested that we resolve the issue as fast as we can,” Nines said

“No shit,” Gavin sighed, “guess we gotta go update Fowler too. Fuck, he’s gonna give me that shitty-ass, ‘you are a waste of existence Reed’, face. Urgh.”

“I honestly believe that you are making that up,” Nines stated, squinting at him slightly.

“That’s ‘cause you ain’t _seen_ it yet,” Gavin pointed out, before running a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. “So. This case just got blown the fuck open. God. Shit’s giving me a goddamn headache.”

“Indeed, the investigation may have grown complicated, but we also have a good lead and an 87% chance of solving the case before the week is over,” Nines predicted, nodding slightly.

Gavin considered pointing out that it was _only_ Tuesday, but then again, he knew that Nines was trying to be encouraging so he decided to drop it.

“Right, let’s go grab Angela,” he said decisively, folding his arms across his chest, “she should still be—oh, _shit_.” He pinched the bridge of his nose with a soft whine. “What about the other assholes?”

Nick considered his question and tilted his head.

“I presume you’re speaking of Marco’s other accomplices, yes? They shouldn’t be too hard to track. Admittedly, Jenny Robinson will be difficult to trace, but I believe that may be Angela’s doing more than Jenny’s. Thomas, according to online transportation records, as well as social media accounts, is in Mauritius right now. We will have to contact the local authorities to have him deported and sent back, and Juliano? He will be at one of his many clubs – we ought to arrest him soon, preferably once we’ve finished with Angela. Otherwise he will run off before we have the chance,” Nines said stated, his tone cold and hard.

“Ooh, careful Nines,” Gavin crooned, “this sorta sounds like it's getting personal for you.”

“Not personal, just,” Nines paused, his LED spinning slightly, “the lack of efficiency with this case is… troubling. The director was not pleasant to deal with either which just adds to the… troubling nature of our investigation.”

“Oh my god, just say you’re annoyed by how fucking slow this case is going, Jesus Christ,” Gavin sighed, flicking Nines on his LED. The android blinked, his glowing light freezing yellow for the merest second before it span blue once more – Gavin wondered if Nines knew how expressive he was nowadays, or if the android was very carefully avoiding the issue.

Either way, seeing the change just thrilled Gavin completely.

“Very well. I am troubled by the pace in which this case is progressing,” Nines replied dutifully, sounding almost bored.

“Oh my god,” Gavin repeated, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Let’s… just fucking go talk to Fowler, okay?”

“After you,” Nines suggested, stepping aside and gesturing down the hallway. Gavin squinted at his partner, pretty sure that Nines had sounded amused for a hot-ass second. Giving his partner a short nod and filled with suspicion, Gavin marched down the hallway towards the bullpen.

Nines followed after him, before he paused momentarily and glanced over his shoulder.

“What about Jordi and Nick?” he asked, inclining his head towards the room.

Gavin snapped his fingers and quickly scanned the bullpen as he walked into it.

“Lewis! Gotta tricky bastard in the interrogation room!” he hollered towards the harried-looking officer, “escort him out if you need to and make sure his client is locked in his cell good and proper!”

Nines watched as Officer Lewis blinked at Gavin, gaping and stammering as the detective sauntered past him. The android politely nodded towards the unfortunate human and followed his partner up the stairs to the Captain Fowler’s office. He absently heard Tina apologising to Lewis for Gavin’s rude behaviour – Hank then chimed in with his suggestion of Lewis kicking Gavin in the shins. As it became a bullpen-wide discussion, he followed his partner into Fowler’s office and the chaotic symphony of voices quickly faded behind him.

“Yo captain!” Gavin trilled, not bothering with a courtesy knock as he strolled into the room.

Fowler glanced up from a file in his hands with a sour glare on his face – Nines supposed he ought to extend an apology on Gavin’s behalf, but he knew that the captain would probably not consider it to be sincere – he was a suspicious man at the best of times, even more so when faced with Gavin.

“You better have some good news for me Reed,” Fowler said warningly, sitting back in his chair to regard Gavin wearily. The detective shot him a sharp grin before he dropped into the chair opposite him – he leant forward eagerly, his leg tapping erratically.

“Okay, so—”

“Goddammit, you still haven’t solved it, have you?” Fowler sighed, rubbing his temples with a soft growl of exasperation.

Gavin wrinkled his nose and scowled. “Let me fucking finish!” he snapped, holding up his hands when he spied Fowler rearing up, “sorry. Just. It’s not Marco doing this, I mean it _is_. But it wasn’t his idea. We reckon his _maid_ is in on this!”

There was a beat of silence as Fowler slowly registered his words.

“This isn’t fucking Clue,” he finally stated dryly, shaking his head in disappointment.

“I know it ain’t fucking Clue,” Gavin snarked, “I’m saying that Angela, the goddamn android maid, is the one to fucking start this shit!”

Fowler arched an unimpressed brow.

“How do you know?”

Gavin blinked.

“What?”

“How do you know that Angela started this operation?” Fowler asked in a biting tone. Nines could see that the captain’s patience was running out quickly – after sparing Gavin a quick observatory glance, he stepped forward and motioned towards the casefile in his hand.

“I understand that this case has taken longer than any of us would have liked, yet there is an exceedingly high chance that Angela is the true mastermind behind the trafficking of young android children in Detroit,” Nines explained, aware that playing the sympathy card was often a successful tactic when dealing with difficult situations and the humans typically associated with said situations.

Fowler observed them impassively.

“I do hope you have more evidence than a hunch,” he said, sitting back in his chair.

“Of course not. Jordi Peters has also confessed to Angela suggesting the idea to them and assisting in orchestrating the operation,” Nines supplied, inclining his head towards Fowler.

“But he doesn’t know it was her _completely_.”

“Which is _why_ we would like to bring her in and ensure the validity of Jordi’s words before we take anyone to court.”

Fowler nodded, his gaze slowly spanning from Nines to Gavin; the silence stretched for only a few seconds, as he internally decided what they could do.

“I want this case solved and I want it solved _now_ ,” he stressed, stabbing at his desk with a finger, “I’ve had multiple complaints from the Commissioner’s office about police conduct and Marco’s lawyer is becoming an abject pain in my ass. I don’t even want to touch the issue of the media – so, if you think this android is the key to closing this investigation, then go. Bring her in, question her, but you better be onto something.”

Gavin’s hackles slowly rose when Fowler turned his piercing glare onto him.

Well shit. _There’s_ the fucking expression.

“You’re skating on thin ice, the pair of you. From your conduct at the hospital to the way you’ve treated the child psychologist today? It’s not looking good,” Fowler stated, his tone thoroughly disapproving, “you’ve made some good progress with this case – it would be a shame to have it taken off you at this stage because you’re a goddamn asshole.”

“I think he’s talking to you,” Gavin drawled, lazily glancing aside at Nines with a wry smile.

“Do _not_ start,” Fowler bit out, and Gavin held up his hands in submission. Fowler nodded with a degree of suspicion in his eye. “Good. Now, get out of my office and don’t come back unless you have some good fucking news.”

Gavin saluted him with a languid flick of his wrist and sauntered out of the office, Nines quick on his heels. He couldn’t see his face, but Gavin knew that the android’s LED was blaring blue – finally, everything was falling into fucking place.

They had a solid suspect, a golden witness who was half-way willing to testify, probably enough evidence to re-arrest Marco, Fowler was, begrudgingly, on their side… _shit_ , if only Nines was into celebratory sex, then this day would be fucking perfect. Still, Gavin wasn’t dumb to not count his blessings – he returned to his desk with a skip in his step and a broad smile stretched across his face.

“Ooh, someone’s in a good mood,” Tina cooed as she waltzed past, throwing him a little wink.

“Someone’s in the _best_ mood,” Gavin corrected smugly, snatching up Nines’ car keys and throwing them over his shoulder to the android, fully trusting his partner to catch them without a second thought.

If this _was_ a game of Clue, then he planned on fucking _winning_.

* * *

**THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**9.27PM**

“Just fucking tell us, why’d ya do it?” Gavin asked tiredly, Nines stood behind him as a silent, steady pillar of support. They had been playing this goddamn game for fifteen minutes – nothing was getting accomplished and they were getting nowhere. That joyous feeling of victory when Gavin had waltzed outta the precinct and arrested the snooty bitch in front of him had quickly dispersed and now he just felt frustrated once again. “Tell us – why traffic kids?”

Angela just arched a brow and folded her arms.

“No comment,” she replied silkily – they were the only two words she had uttered so far. Even during her initial arrest, she had been silent, bar one disbelieving scoff when they placed the handcuffs on her.

“That ain’t gonna fly here,” Gavin warned her, his eye twitching slightly, “so tell me this: why help Marco?”

Angela just tilted her head.

“No comment,” she repeated.

Gavin blew out a short huff of air.

“Where are the other kids then?” he asked instead, “they in the country, or did you get Thomas to ship ‘em out?”

Angela didn’t even bother to respond, she simply blinked at him. Her lack of LED irritated Gavin – though deviant androids could display the same tells and quirks as humans, they also had the ability to appear perfectly expressionless. The fact that Gavin was unable to read her body language left him thoroughly annoyed.

“Okay, so where is Marco’s tablet?” Gavin asked instead, his gaze sliding down to the report where officers failed to find it at any of his hideouts. Angela shrugged and turned to gaze at the one-way mirror. Gavin watched as she observed her reflection and his irritation tipped into anger. “Listen!” he snapped and slammed his hands down onto the table. Angela’s gaze drifted over to him, cold and empty, “I’m being fucking considerate – I could have Nines just deep-dive into your fucking memories, but apparently that’s not fucking good etiquette anymore when questioning androids, but right now, I’m starting to not give a shit about etiquette, so—”

“You are a terrible host,” Angela interrupted, her words delicate and frosty.

Gavin gaped, his words disappearing in his throat. “You’ve been fucking arrested,” he said incredulously.

“And you haven’t offered me a drink once,” Angela said, folding her arms as she straightened her job, “how very uncivilised of you.”

“You traffic kids!” Gavin snapped hotly.

Nines could see that Angela was purposely pressing Gavin’s buttons – the irater the detective became, the more likely it was that he did something unethical or worse to her, causing their entire case against her to become dangerously weak.

He stepped forward and placed a hand on Gavin’s shoulder – the maid immediately flicked her gaze up to him and Nines felt… was… he…

YOU DO NOT FEEL

YOU DO NOT FEEL

YOU DO NOT FEEL

She was scared of him.

And Nines… L̷̺̩̟̬̦̰̗͓̏I̷̥͙̠͔̞͊̄͆̈́̂͆͌̆̋K̸̖̺͝E̶͚̻̱̪̎̀̍͊̊̈́̔̇͜Ḑ̸̧̤̤̫͓̱̗̬̩̓̈̇͐͠ that.

As red text littered his vision, Nines straightened up and bolstered through the distractions.

“You were the one to submit the tip about Marco’s involvement, correct? Why?” he asked, seeing how she leaned slightly away from him, wary and afraid. “Why submit the tip, why involve yourself? You practically painted a target on your back, leading us back to you and your involvement in the case – you must have known the consequences?”

Angela blinked up at him and opened her mouth to response – Nines refused to let her utter ‘no comment’, however.

“Of course,” he said smoothly, cutting across her, “you’re not that advanced, are you? How could you have known that contacting us would have ruined all your carefully constructed plans? No wonder your model became so obsolete mere months after initial public release.”

Angela gaped at him.

Gavin too.

Nines shot her a sharp, ugly smile. His features weren’t quite as adept as Connor’s when it came to expressions, but he found that his ‘smile’ was rather efficient in unsettling those around him. Bar Gavin… for some reason, the human enjoyed seeing his smiles.

It was one of the many reasons why Nines had given up on trying to understand his human partner.

“I know you are a rudimentary model, but surely Cyberlife provided you with more phrases than ‘no comment’,” Nines continued, staring down at her unblinkingly, “unless, you’re broken? Have you been dealing with any issues lately? We could get that… _fixed_ , if you’d like?”

His vicious smile grew wider when Angela flinched away from him.

Gavin whistled lowly and Nines could see the man adjusting himself slightly in his seat.

Interesting.

“I do not appreciate your threats,” Angela uttered out finally, “and I do not need to be… _fixed_!”

“Then answer our questions,” Nines responded, his tone delicate and dangerous. He turned to Gavin and arched a brow – the detective was flushed and wide-eyed, gazing up at Nines with a sheen of arousal in his eyes. “Detective, would you like to continue questioning her?”

Gavin nodded dumbly; it clearly took a minute for Nines’ question to register in Gavin’s mind as the detective suddenly blushed and coughed, twisting around to face Angela. The maid looked utterly aghast and a tad disgusted with the show.

“So, Angela. If you’re not gonna answer my questions from before, then tell us this: why drop all his associates in the shit? Surely you should’ve known they would’ve snitched on you,” Gavin forcibly asked. Nines could see that he was trying hard to focus his gaze on Angela – the man’s face kept twitching, as he wanted to look up at Nines, but was too embarrassed to allow his gaze to drift away from the maid.

It was rather… adora—

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT WANT

Nines knew that if he could scowl, he would. The words were such a pain to deal with and they obstructed his vision at the best of times – how was he supposed to do his job and conduct himself professionally when his sense of sight was obscured?

YOU DO NOT FEEL

YOU DO NOT FEEL

YOU DO NOT FEEL

Right.

Yes.

He does not feel.

Nines blinked and forced himself to tune back into the conversation. Angela appeared incensed, tapping her nails alongside the table, whilst Gavin was leaning towards her, his grey-eyes burning with fury. Nines had probably zoned out for mere seconds – how had their interrogation gone south so quickly?

“—humans are ridiculously proud creatures. To inform the police of private matters would have—”

“Oh, so you fucked up – you think you know humans so well, right? Well, joke’s on you, humans are selfish fucks and they are quite happy to throw android pricks like you under the bus. Spoiler alert: you’re fucked.”

Angela blinked; if she had an LED, Gavin knew it would’ve been bright fucking red and spinning like record. He leaned back and regarded her steadily; she was a tricky one and probably wouldn’t break in one night… still, whatever he could get tonight would be better than nothing.

“So, what happened to the two androids then? Your accomplices, since humans are so fucking useless, right?” Gavin asked sardonically, drumming his fingers in time with Angela tapping her nails. Nines spotted the motion and knew that the detective was trying to irritate her – it worked, as the maid eyed his hand with clear annoyance and ceased her movements.

“It was unfortunate, what happened. But New Jericho couldn’t help me, couldn’t help them. I was doing them a favour,” she explained, her tone as bitter as it had been the last time she spoke of New Jericho, “I even gave them a choice, free will and all that – run away or die. After hearing about how tight immigration laws have become regarding androids, they chose death. I simply gave them a few suggestions, I never thought they would actually jump into the river though. Never thought it would work, but I guess they were old models.”

“Jesus Christ, you almost sound fucking _sad_ about killing them,” Gavin groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Nines observed Angela silently – the fight seemed to have left her, her body rigid with fear and defeat. Her gaze kept switching between the one-way mirror, Gavin and Nines – despite this, she remained perfectly still.

“You hate New Jericho,” Nines stated, wishing to uncover her motive whilst she was so unsettled. He had been so close to connecting the dots last time; this was probably the last piece of the puzzle that explained her actions, “is that why you began to traffic android children? They prioritise helping them first, of course. You’re trapped on a waiting list for six months, yet children are brought in the moment they require assistance. Is that why you planted the seed in Marco’s mind? To traffic those who were in your way, the ones you harboured such bitter resentment for?”

Angela threw him a dirty look.

“It would have been a good way to hit two birds with one stone, as the saying goes. After all, you would have regained your inheritance from Lorna, the inheritance that Marco stole from you, whilst also lashing out at New Jericho and those who prevented you from rising out of the gutter,” Nines continued.

Gavin scrunched his eyes shut and rubbed at the tiredly.

“So… she trafficked kids outta Detroit, used Marco as a scapegoat and for what? To become Lorna Arnette 2.0? How does trafficking kids stick it to fucking New Jericho?” he snapped out the questions quickly, his head twisting to stare at Nines and then at Angela. “What the fuck?”

Angela glared hatefully at them.

“I refuse to say anymore. You are terrible hosts and I wish for a lawyer to be present during these interrogations from now on, understood?” she demanded, jutting her chin up.

“Then you will be provided with one,” Nines informed her unkindly, “though, I highly doubt it will help you much.”

He then turned and left, without waiting for Angela’s response. The android scowled and turned away, tapping her foot under the table with sharp, jerky movements – she almost seemed to vibrate with displeasure as she kept her gaze averted.

Gavin snorted and followed his partner out of the room.

“Nice work,” he murmured under his breath, “that shit was pretty hot.”

Nines stared down at him, his lips twitching – at this point, he knew the twitch meant the android was trying to genuinely smile. The fucker probably didn’t know how to smile properly, but Gavin found that he never really cared… he liked the facial twitches and greedily hoarded them whenever he saw them. The fact that he was the only one to provoke the android into smiling nicely was something he was obscenely proud of as well.

“Thank you,” Nines murmured back, his LED glowing softly against his temple.

Gavin bit back a smile but he knew that trying to hide the adoration in his eyes was a lost cause – Nines probably even saw how fucking hard he was in the interrogation room too. Lucky him, the android was so disinterested in anything happening between them that Nines wouldn’t even deign to bring it up.

Well.

Unless the android wanted to be a dick, that is.

Gavin snorted and shook his head free of thoughts about Nines.

“Wanna go wreck Marco’s shit?” he asked instead, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the precinct’s entrance.

“It would be rude to keep him waiting,” Nines replied, his lips twitching minutely.

The action most definitely did not cause Gavin’s heart to skip a beat.

* * *

**FRISK & SONS LAW  
** **10.17PM**

“The fuck do you mean he’s _gone_?!” Gavin hollered, uncaring of the time.

“He is gone,” Claudia Frisk, the author of the many threatening emails Gavin had stored in his inbox, replied tartly. She was perched atop her window ledge, glaring down at the detective with folded arms. She lived above her office – Gavin knew of this and had simply screamed at the window until she finally answered him.

Nines, to his credit, merely arched a brow and remained silent. Gavin wondered if the android was aware of how angry and frustrated he was, hence the lack of being reprimanded for his unprofessional conduct. Nevertheless, Gavin scowled up at Marco’s lawyer and clenched his fists tightly.

“Well, where the fuck did he go?” Gavin snapped, nails cutting into the soft flesh of his palms.

Claudia simply shrugged and inspected her nails.

“How should I know?” she asked sourly, “this may surprise you, but my life doesn’t revolve around Marco Arnette. Besides, I was a little busy today dealing with a rather irate android maid you ended up wrangling, as well as a few other contacts that you have been harassing without just cause.”

“They’re all fucking trafficking suspects and you know this!” Gavin yelled back, thrusting an accusatory finger in her direction.

“All I know is that you have nothing bar the word of one android – an android who could have been hacked or could be experiencing a glitch in her system. Until I meet with my new client, I kindly ask that you back off the rest until I determine the validity of her statemen—” Claudia began, but Gavin loudly swore and scoffed up at her.

“We have a fucking android who can validate her statement right fucking here!”

“Yes, but he’s _your_ android. I don’t trust him.”

Gavin huffed out an angry breath, crossing his arms as he glared up at the frosty woman.

“What kind of lawyer willingly protects child traffickers?” he asked, indignant and privately wishing that Claudia couldn’t see the slight flush on his face – Nines wasn’t _his_ android, Jesus.

“What kind of detective loses his suspect?” she called back, before she neatly pushed herself off the ledge and slammed the window down. Her silhouette disappeared behind a thick curtain and Gavin scowled at the sight. A slew of obscenities and insults erupted from Gavin’s mouth, the words echoing around the quiet road around him. Nines watched impassively, his gaze flicking from the detective to the empty window.

“I don’t think she’s listening, detective,” Nines stated calmly.

“No fucking _shit_!” Gavin declared, rounding on his partner with an ugly snarl on his face.

Nines merely arched a brow and cocked his head – Gavin’s angry expression melted away into something more exhausted and threaded with frustration. His body deflated as he turned away from his partner, ducking his head with a bitten-off curse.

“Fuck,” Gavin sighed, clenching his fists as he began pacing outside the law firm. Nines watched silently and waited for the detective to proceed with his rant – they have been partners long enough for Nines to easily spot the signs of Gavin edging towards a vitriolic slew of words and curses.

He didn’t have to wait long.

“He’s gone. Fucking gone. Christ, what kinda shitty detective does that make me – can't even keep track of my goddamn suspects, can’t even spot when someone is lying, fucking handed those two androids over to Angela on a fucking silver platter! God, I’m so fucking useless!”

Nines frowned – Gavin’s tone was not as acidic as it should have been.

“Detective?” he asked, cocking his head, fully aware of his LED flashing red.

Gavin took no notice and continued pacing, his head hung low and his shoulders hunched high.

“She fucking fed me _nothing_ but _bullshit_ and I just fucking ate it up?”

Gavin’s voice started quivering and Nines felt all of his systems crash.

“Detective!”

“No,” Gavin suddenly snapped, turning on Nines with a sharp glare. The effect was ruined however, by the alarming sight of unshed tears in his eyes. Nines was stunned and drastically searched his online training manuals for assistance; he had never seen Gavin in such a state before and he felt lost. “I can't believe this shit; I can't fucking believe that I… _fuck_!”

Nines rushed to his side without a second thought – the detective’s vitals were drastic. His anxiety levels were incredibly erratic, and Nines wasn’t sure a human’s blood pressure ought to be that high. He prevented Gavin from returning to his angry pacing by placing two firm hands onto the detective’s shoulders, keeping him in place.

“Gavin,” he began, slow and patient, the online manuals instructing him to adopt a nonthreatening stance and tone. He waited until he held Gavin’s complete attention – the man’s grey eyes shone in the soft glow of the nearby streetlights… the unshed tears made them gleam and Nines felt something shift deep within him.

GAVIN REED HAS BEAUTIFUL EYES

Nines blinked the words away and was grateful that Gavin did not have the same body-reading software that he owned. “Gavin,” he said again, watching as the man nodded, “you told me that accidents happen, that mistakes happen. Why does this not apply to you?”

Gavin pursed his lips. “I have been working my ass off for this case – fucking failure ain’t a goddamn option here. Not when my reputation is on the line, when my chance of becoming sergeant is on the line. You don’t get it, you just rocked on up and people just fucking do what you want, give you all the fucking permission you need to get shit done, but I… fuck. I’m lucky if Fowler answers my goddamn _emails_!” His voice cracked on the last syllable; he attempted to wrench himself away, but Nines’ grip was unyielding.

“True, I am given a great deal more leeway at work… and yet, you produce more results with our cases. Victims trust you implicitly, witnesses will talk to you and even lawyers back down when faced with your insistencies. You spy things that I cannot, even with the superior technology at my disposal—”

“—you’re really shit at compliments, y’know—”

“—and I have found myself… improving. As an android. Our time together, as I have mentioned before, has been indispensable. You are a great detective and a good human. You must allow yourself to make mistakes, otherwise how are you supposed to learn to be better?”

“I should already be better!”

Nines blinked.

Gavin’s chest was heaving lightly, his cheeks flushed from the influx of emotions. Nines knew that social etiquette dictated that he ought to extend some physical affection towards the detective, or some soothing words… but he was frozen, unable to form a single thought. He had never seen the confident detective so shaken before – it made his systems glitch horrifically. Nines found that he couldn’t predict anything, not with Gavin acting so… unlike himself.

“Detective,” Nines murmured softly, suddenly aware that he was still holding onto his partner. Awkwardly, he began to rub small circles into the tense muscle beneath his hands – Gavin appeared to melt slightly, his expression relaxing into something more content, “you… you do not need to be better. I find that you. I find you to be.”

Gavin gaped – understandable, as Nines found that he was lost for words and that _never_ happened.

“I find you… just fine,” he finished lamely, inwardly berating himself for not choosing a better compliment.

To his credit, Gavin didn’t immediately blow up at the slight insult – rather, the human was silent, gaping at him in disbelief.

Nines was quick to amend his mistake before his partner could truly register how poor his word choice was.

“You do not need to change. I… _like_ you. As you are. Like this. Humans are… _raw_ and _unpredictable_ and you. You are more so than anyone else I know. Please, do not change. Do not try to better yourself because you cannot possibly be any better—”

“Nines.”

“—you are a good detective—”

“Nines.”

“—apologies for sounding like, as you often say, a broken record—”

“Nines, man.”

“—please understand, that my words are not empty—”

“Stop!” Gavin snapped, and Nines found himself silenced instantly. The human was flushed, and his face was contorted with an odd mix of pleasure and pain. Gavin seemed to appreciate the compliments but probably didn’t believe that they were deserved. His partner was incredibly contrary and difficult to please at the best of times – now, with him being so unreadable, Nines was unsure as to how to proceed.

His preconstructions offered no insight and the odds of their conversation ending successfully were dropping rapidly.

“Detective,” Nines uttered, unsure as to what to say or do. His partner was upset, and Nines had no idea how to make it better. “I did not mean to upset you…”

“It’s fine—”

“—no, I’m sorry, I—”

“—stop apologising, Jesus—”

“—I don’t know how to fix this—”

They fell into silence after talking over each other – Nines watched, his LED spinning yellow as he observed Gavin for signs of distress. The detective looked incredibly uncomfortable and the android quickly scanned online resources for any tips on how to deal with a distressed human – especially one who did not follow the norm quite like Gavin.

He took too long though, as Gavin pulled away from him and scrubbed a rough hand over his face. Nines arms lingered in the air slightly, his fingers twitching for the human before him.

Nines had no idea what to do.

He had no idea what to say.

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT WANT

“Detect—” Nines began, his voice glitchy and strained, but Gavin held up a hand to silence him.

“Fuck, I,” he paused, deflating in front of Nines with a sad sigh. “I… I gotta get home. Got mouths to feed, sorrows to drown, all that jazz.”

“Detective,” Nines uttered, acutely aware of Gavin’s rapidly dropping serotine levels.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Gavin stated, tugging his phone out from his pocket. Nines watched as the human rang a taxi and walked away; the android was struck by the urge to follow him and—

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT FEEL

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT FEEL

—and Nines stayed frozen, the angry red words glitching across his HUD in quick flashes. Though the words obstructed his vision, Nines waited until Gavin’s form completely faded from sight before he climbed into his car and returned home.

It took forty minutes before the red words disappeared completely.

* * *

**THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**8.14AM**

“Detective,” Nines greeted Gavin, a tad wary due to last night’s unresolved discussion, “a peace offering?”

He held out a takeaway cup with the Starbucks logo printed on the side. It was overpriced and the company was suspect at best, but Tina had promised him that a mocha from Starbucks was one of Gavin’s many weaknesses.

The detective eyed it suspiciously before he took it from the android and placed his own mug back into the breakroom’s cupboard. Nines watched impassively as Gavin sipped at the cup – the android scanned the human and found him to be calmer than yesterday despite the dark bags under his eyes. The android found him slowly appraising Gavin’s form – the man was clearly fond of soft clothes, hoodies especially, but today he had chosen to forgo the layers and was instead wearing a simple burgundy V-neck which showed off his collar bones perfectly.

Nines was struck by the sudden urge to trace them with his tongue, cataloguing everything he could find in the small dips. He briefly considered asking Connor if it was normal to be so fixated on such strange things, but then he would most likely be teased for being distracted by them in the first place; Connor had become rather intent in building some kind of fraternal bond between them and Nines wasn’t sure he even wanted one with his predecessor.

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT WANT

YOU DO NOT WANT

Ah.

 _Right_.

Nines sighed and waited until the words faded away, blinking when he realised that Gavin had glanced up at him with flushed cheeks – clearly, he had caught Nines staring at him. The human cleared his throat and ducked his head behind his paper cup.

“Hey,” Gavin murmured suddenly, nudging Nines’ ankle softly, “thanks. For yesterday.”

Nines cocked his head and clasped his hands behind his back, his LED glowing softly in the dull light of the breakroom. To Gavin, it felt like the android was smiling at him and he could feel his heart skip a beat in his chest.

“Anytime detective,” the android replied, his eyes slowly raking over the detective’s form. Gavin felt scrutinised, his skin prickling under Nines’ intense gaze. He swallowed and shifted uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck as he averted his eyes.

“So, what the hell do we do with the case now?” Gavin asked with a sigh. He settled back against the counter, placing his cup down as he flicked his eyes back up at Nines. The android considered the question and nodded to himself.

“Well, obviously Angela will be transferred to FBI custody and—”

“Wait,” Gavin held up his hand, “you fucking _what_?”

Nines blinked. “The android is to be transferred into FBI custody—”

Gavin snarled, pushing himself up to his feet as he forced himself into Nines’ personal space.

“Fuck off, _no_ , fuck off, she is _my_ fucking suspect for my fucking case, you _can't_ take that away from me,” he spat, his words dangerously low as he thrust his finger in Nines’ face. The android merely looked disinterested, his LED barely flickering in response to Gavin’s angry words.

“And the FBI would like to question her, because this is also _my_ case and she is _my_ suspect,” Nines supplied patiently, subtly leaning away from the aggressive human.

“Nope, nuh uh, _fuck_ you. You don't get to just swipe my goddamn case from under me, who the fuck do you think you are?” he asked, distantly mourning the loss of their easy camaraderie from seconds ago. Shit, sometimes he really questioned his own taste in men – the fucking android just stabbed him in the back and Gavin had been seconds away from begging to suck his dick.

Jesus. He probably would have been better off playing Marco’s bedwarmer.

Nines stared at him steadily, his bright yellow LED spinning sporadically – Gavin had the weirdest feeling that the android was panicking, ‘cause he sure as shit had never seen the LED spin that fast before.

“I think you are a fine detective who managed to crack an incredibly difficult case and catch one of Detroit’s most despicable cretins, preventing them from inflicting further damage and harm upon the city. You are to be commended and respected by your peers and I will ensure that you get the credit you deserve,” Nines stated, the words coming out short and halted. Gavin wrinkled his nose and rocked back onto his heels. Irritation still pricked at his nerves, but Nines’ words were a soothing balm to his frustration and anger.

He clenched his fists and swallowed – he shifted on the spot, acutely aware of the scrutiny he was under.

“But,” Gavin persisted, the fight draining out of him slowly, “the kids. I made a goddamn _promise_ to find those kids.”

“They will be found,” Nines said, firmly, like a vow, “and it will all be down to you. Without your hard-work and your insistence that Marco had something to do with the disappearance of android children, then Tamron and Aurelia would still be lost. You should be proud of yourself. You saved those children and you will have saved countless more, just because you cared so much… I… the drive you have. I _admire_ that about you.”

Fuck.

Gavin felt his face heat up and his jeans felt tighter.

God. Not again.

“Right. Okay. So.” he forced himself to say, trying hard to meet Nines’ gaze, “I don’t know who told you that I had a praise kink, probably Tina, will definitely have to kill her, but your fluffy-ass compliments mean sweet FA. ‘Cause I’m still pissed at you.”

Nines nodded, before his lips twitched minutely.

“But not as much as before,” he said knowingly, arching a single brow at the detective before him.

Gavin snorted, shoving his hands into his pockets as he shrugged.

“Fuck no, I’m mostly turned on,” he said honestly, his brain-to-mouth filter failing as he tried hard to figure out how to keep his case away from grubby FBI fingers.

“Good to know that praise has this effect on you,” Nines noted, cocking his head slightly. Gavin blinked, his mind whiting out shortly – all anger was quickly swept away from the pure astonishment of Nines actually flirting back. The android’s tone was still cold, but the words were almost coy in nature – distantly, Gavin knew that he was losing sight of his priorities, but… maybe flirting a little now could lead to him getting some sway with the android later.

Maybe he could get his case back.

Maybe he could get the stoic Ken doll to go deviant.

Gavin bit back a grin – maybe, just maybe, he could get fucking _laid_.

“Oh,” he purred, glancing up at the android, deliberately biting at his lower lip, “you’re gonna abuse it, huh?”

Nines’ LED suddenly sparked bright blue.

“Interesting use of the word ‘ _abuse_ ’ – I’m assuming you used it on purpose,” the android murmured.

“Well, you should kno—” Gavin began, delighted with this new development in their partnership.

“You are at work!” Tina shrieks, cutting across the tension and the conversation in one fell swoop. “You _sickening_ creatures, show a little professionalism!”

Gavin stiffened up, casting his friend a frosty glare as she strode past him, a wide grin on her face. She was clearly very proud of herself, as she practically skipped down the corridor towards the archives, a box of casefiles in her hands.

He glanced back up at Nines and was disheartened to find the frosty mask was once again plastered across the android’s features. He had been noticing it more and more – the little cracks in Nines’ façade that would immediately be plastered over by an air of indifferent. Though Gavin was delighted to see the effect he had on the cold android, it was also increasingly frustrating having to watch as Nines just… fucking… closed that shit down. Deviancy, or whatever the fuck it was, was clearly effecting Nines.

Gavin just didn’t know how to give the android that final push.

Gavin just didn’t know if Nines wanted to be given that final push.

“So,” he drawled, almost awkwardly as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “Now what?”

Nines blinked. “Now I shall return to my director, Angela in tow, and we shall discuss what happens to her afterwards – they have also stated that they will take control of tracking down the remaining suspects and witnesses,” he stated, “I will, of course, credit you with half of the successful arrest of Angela.”

Anger flooded Gavin’s veins instantly – he couldn’t believe that no one had even warned him that the FBI was taking over his case. The unfairness of the entire situation had him on edge – it was completely rare for the FBI to take over a local case… it only happened in extreme cases, so Gavin cursed his own shitty luck for being the 0.01% of extreme cases that end up being taken away. God, solving that shit probably would’ve given him all the approval he needed for the sergeant's exam, _shit_. 

Still, he couldn’t really take it out on Nines – the android was only doing what he was told. Dude didn’t even have the autonomy to piss Gavin off, he was just the conduit for the bullshit taking place. As such, Gavin rolled his shoulders back and tried hard to quell his bubbling anger – he glanced up at Nines and rolled his eyes at the earnest expression on the android’s face.

“Fuck that,” he scowled playfully, “two thirds, bitch!”

Nines raised a brow. “Half the credit,” he repeated firmly, like he was speaking to a difficult child rather than a difficult detective, “ _and_ … I shall put in a request to be assigned your partner in future should the occasion arise.”

Gavin blinked.

“What?”

Nines’ LED span slowly, a warm gold hue settling against his temple. “If it would please you,” Nines said slowly, suddenly averting his eyes away from Gavin’s face, “I have enjoyed my time partnering you and I feel like I have received quite the extensive education on humanity… I would like to continue learning more about humans and society. Through being your partner. If you would be amendable to the idea, of course.”

Gavin blinked again. “What?”

The android opened his mouth – his LED flashing red once, before it calmed back down to a soft yellow. “I apologise,” Nines said, the words almost falling from his lips in a rush, “I am being too forward, I had not considered your opinion in the matter, please do no—”

“Fuck yeah,” Gavin interrupted him, sharply and loudly, “let’s be fucking partners!”

His heart was beating wildly in his chest and he could see Tina throwing him a thumbs-up in his peripheral, but none of that mattered, ‘cause all Gavin could focus on was how goddamn delighted Nines looked in that moment. Granted, the icy bastard didn’t really show it, but Gavin could see his eyes lighting up, his lips twitching weirdly like he wanted to smile, but didn’t know how.

Also, his fucking nightlight was flashing up like a goddamn rave by his temple.

“I will let my director know then,” Nines uttered, clasping his hands behind his back, “I look forward to working with you again soon.”

Gavin’s lips curled up. “Sweet, yeah. Working together. Boss,” he said, cursing loudly in his mind when the words erupted from his throat without his consent. Jesus Christ, he was a mess.

He gazed up at Nines’ cool blue eyes and felt his cheeks warm up considerably. Fuck, Nines was too fucking pretty – like, he gets that the guy was based off of Connor, but Connor was too… soft. Like, around the edges. And Gavin knew that ‘soft’ was definitely the wrong word to use, given that the guy could snap his spine in half, but Connor had that softness to his features that allowed him to gain the trust of strangers easily. Nines had Connor’s face, but his face was harder, sharper, more mean. He didn’t need to gain the trust of anyone – he just needed to scare people into obeying him.

He would make a stellar Dom, probably an epic power bottom too, given the right opportunity.

Fuck. Nines would probably research that shit to death – he’d make sure all the safewords were in place, all the aftercare was thought out… goddamn it, Gavin swallowed roughly and tried so hard to imagine Fowler in a bikini, ‘cause fuck, he did not need to be caught out at work with a boner.

Not again.

Jesus though. Nines’ fucking eyes were something else – like goddamn ice. Cold, hard ice and completely fucking unreadable; the android was staring back at him and Gavin couldn’t get a single read on what the guy could be thinking. Like holy shit, it must be something good, right? Like, the dude wanted to keep on being partners and shit? Which was fucking crazy, ‘cause spending more time with Nines was doing heavily detrimental things to his psyche.

But fuck, if Gavin would much rather shoot his own dick off than miss out on flirting with his walking, talking wet dream.

“Oh my god!” Tina’s sharp voice cut through silence that had stretched between them, with all the elegance of a wrecking ball through a china shop. “Just fucking make out already!”

* * *

**THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT**  
**THREE DAYS LATER**

“Alright, settle down everyone,” Fowler barked, eyeing the influx of officers with an impatient glare.

Gavin settled into a seat at the front, Nines sat primly beside him. After Tina’s humiliating outburst, Nines had quickly absconded back to the FBI, leaving Gavin to deliver the iciest cold shoulder he could muster to his best friend. It took exactly twenty-three hours, two dozen donuts _and_ a promise that Tina wouldn’t inflict her ugly bomber jacket onto him in the case of her untimely death for Gavin to eventually forgive her.

She also threw in her mother’s secret recipe for Mooncakes.

Which, _score_ … but _still_.

He hadn’t spoken to Nines since that day and just seeing the android brought back the wave of mortification that drowned him at the time. As usual, the android looked unruffled and Gavin felt the sharp bitter taste of resentment when the android sat down next to him.

 _If only humans could remain unaffected by hot guys_ , Gavin thought longingly.

He deliberately flipped Tina off as she strolled past him, sitting herself down at the desk behind him. He could distantly hear her whine to Chris, but the guy simply admonished her for embarrassing Gavin in front of the entire precinct again. Gavin snorted when Tina began whining again and internally placed Chris at the top of his squad member list – it had been a long stint for Tina, but it was high time that someone else took the number one spot.

“Okay, okay,” Fowler called out, striding into the room with a thick file in his hands, “shut the hell up, we’re all goddamn busy, so let’s make this quick.” He came to a standstill behind the podium and slammed the file down. “Anderson, where are we up to with the, what the fuck is he called… the Puppeteer?”

“His court date is set for twenty-eighth. Fucker’s still playing around with where he’s buried his victims though. Wants it televised, the egotistical prick,” Hank replied, folding his arms as he grimaced.

“I suggested pretending to film the event, trick him into thinking the world is watching,” Connor supplied, his eyes flicking across to Hank’s momentarily. Gavin guessed Hank wasn’t totally on board with the idea, especially with the way the lieutenant’s lips curled into a light snarl upon hearing Connor’s words.

“He ain’t goddamn stupid.”

“He isn’t incredibly intelligent either.”

“The hell makes you say that?”

“The fact that he got caught!”

“Enough, Christ,” Fowler announced, holding up a hand to call an end to the bickering. Gavin snorted – they looked like two dumbass dogs, biting and yapping at each other. Still… Connor was probably onto something, even he could admit that. “Look, if you gotta trick him, fucking do so. Just shut this damn case down.”

Hank scowled, slumping further down his seat as he pointedly tore his glare away from Fowler.

“Of course, captain,” Connor said, his words tinged with concern as he gazed at his partner. Fuck, the android always looked so goddamn sad whenever he fought with Hank – wrinkling his nose, Gavin made a note to invite the android over to his place at the weekend. Coffee Bean could do with some ‘android dad time’.

“Chen, update,” Fowler instructed, moving on swiftly.

“The dildo dickhead has been arrested, court date set, bail refused,” she reported chirpily, “your sex toys are once again safe, you are all welcome!”

Fowler sighed as a chorus of groans and softly muttered curses filled the room.

“Thank you, Chen. Eloquent as always,” Fowler muttered, “Reed, the FBI's reported that Angela has provided them with a full confession, as well as a complete list of suspects." He paused, a slight crease appearing between his brows. “Agent Nines has also informed me of Marco’s disappearance. Don’t beat yourself up over him slipping away; assholes like the always turn up in the end. Regardless of how it ended, congratulations on all your hardwork.”

“Wow. Great. I always enjoy doing all the legwork for someone else’s fucking glory and being thanked for it. Cheers for the support, by the way, love knowing that my captain is ready to throw me under the goddamn bus 'cause of some fucking bigwigs,” Gavin drawled, snickering when Nines nudged his ankle under the table. “Oh _bite_ me.”

“I would not wish to give you the pleasure,” Nines retorted.

“Liar,” Gavin snorted.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake! How can you expect me to keep quiet when they say shit like this!” Tina cried out, and from the sounds of it, she was smacking Chris soundly on the arm.

From the sounds of it, Chris was batting back at her.

“Does this look like a high school to you?” Fowler barked out, “if you can’t behave like goddamn, responsible adults, then please, here’s the damn door.”

The silence that ensued was telling.

“Good. Person, Brown, good work on the tracking down that stalker. Miller, I have a warrant for that elderly home you wanted,” Fowler stated, and Gavin heard the sigh of relief that floated up from behind him. He made a mental note to ask Chris about that later, ‘cause shit, what could’ve gone down in a goddamn elderly home?

“Lewis, you have a week to figure out who vandalised the temple last week, otherwise the embargo is getting lifted and the media will rain a shitstorm down on us.”

Gavin drummed his fingers along the table – admittedly, he was still pissed about the FBI coming in, swinging their dicks and lording over his hard-goddamn-work. God, just imagining fucking Perkins touching Gavin’s case with his greasy fucking fingers made his skin crawl.

Bastard.

Still, at least Nines promised him a little credit – and he had four more cases to work through.

Silver fucking linings.

“Alright, sounds like everyone’s tying up some loose-fucking-ends,” Fowler commented, drumming his fingers along the file in front of him. “Good, ‘cause a new case has come in and this one is a goddamn headache.”

Gavin could feel the atmosphere change – whenever Fowler referred to a case as a ‘headache’, they could all tell that it was gonna be a good one. Well, probably not _good_ , but _interesting_ , at least – and despite his last huge case hitting a dead-fucking-end, Gavin could already feel the excitement coursing through his veins at the thought of a new case to sink his teeth into. The four cases on his desk were child’s play, break-ins and vandalism, boring, _easy_ shit… this case sounded like something that could tip his application for the sergeant’s exam into his favour.

“Three couples have been found dead at the Whispering Waters couples retreat – the only thing they have in common is that they're... mixed... couples,” Fowler explained, his face pained as he forced the words out behind gritted teeth, “each couple consists of one human, one android – the android ends up dismantled and the human ends up disfigured. This is some twisted shit, because it’s only through dental records and model numbers that we even know who these people are.”

“Christ,” Hank muttered, wiping a hand down his face.

“Indeed,” Fowler agreed with a heavy sigh, “we have been provided two tickets to the resort as well as explicit permission to carry out an undercover investigation on the premises. We need to be discreet; we need to be careful. The suspect has no problem dragging out these murders and we do not need to spook them and have them running off. The retreat is outside our jurisdiction, so we will be following the FBI’s lead on this one.”

Oh.

Gavin was absently aware of Tina snickering behind him.

“Lucky for us, we already have the perfect team to go undercover for us—”

Oh no.

“—so, Detective Reed. Agent Nines. Get packing, because I want this suspect arrested _yesterday_!”

Oh _fuck_ no.

“You have _got_ to be fucking kidding me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tina: two men, one bed!  
> chris: fake relationship with a side of jealousy!  
> connor: but guys, enemies to friends to lovers is already working!  
> hank: let me die, let me die, let me die, let me die
> 
> fowler, storming into the room with a large casefile: UNDERCOVER COUPLE COPS!!!


End file.
